The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 356: Is flirting a part of a dream demon’s skillset?

Chapter 356: Is flirting a part of a dream demon’s skillset?

Now that my horror and guilt of making him chuck this beautiful setting yesterday had vanished, I couldn’t help but giggle as I took a seat on the chair he pulled for me.

"Oh, pardon me," I glanced at him after the giggle slipped past my lips. "I fail to contain my excitement."

He pinched my cheek before disappearing somewhere and coming back with a trolley bearing our dinner. So, not only did he prepare all of this, but my Demon Lord also served the meal himself. Truly, just the two of us in this little corner of the world.

I watched him slicing the meat that was still sizzling on top of a hot stone and had to hold myself from sighing. "You look so handsome," I said, propping my cheek with my hand and cursing the fact that I had no device to immortalize this scenery.

He glanced at me and smiled with curled silver eyes. "And you’re beautiful as always."

How unfair! But at a time like this, I kind of felt happy knowing I was probably the only one who could enjoy his stunning visage. Hmph--fine! No one needed to know how gorgeous my husband is!

Natha quickly served the meal and, just for tonight, we decided to have a wine too. "Do you have fun, today? Learned a lot?" he asked right after he sat down--finally--on the other chair in front of me.

"I learned that you have a lot," I said with a shrug, to which he replied with a simple, rather cocky chuckle. "Oh, I also heard about your real estate gambling."

"Hmm? Ah, that."

’Ah, that’? Look at him treating it as an afterthought! I narrowed my eyes and chewed my meat while staring at him in suspicion.

Natha let out a crooked smile. "Well, it was a long time ago, before I became the Lord of Greed."

"Oh-ho!" I raised the hand wielding the knife. "The peak of your adventurous spirit, huh?"

Natha simply chuckled without denying it. I truly wanted to know all the shenanigans he did after he left his teacher’s place, including what he did to the elven King until he could acquire the Amrita.

Hmm...maybe I could make a picture book out of it, for Jade’s consumption.

"Has that person ever sought revenge?" I asked.

"Oh, he did--they did, the whole family," Natha said with a playful tone. "But I told them to bring money enough for the new wager, so they had to acquire another capital. "The thing is, they did it by--guessed it,"

I narrowed my eyes--what else a gambler would do. "Gambling?"

Natha winked, raising his wine glass.

"So I gathered they plunged into debt that they couldn’t even take their land away anymore?"

"It’s fair and square."

Look at this demon saying it shamelessly. "With your ability? Isn’t that cheating?"

Natha scoffed. "People who don’t cheat while gambling are either stupid, naive, or just born lucky."

"Huh..."

So he was saying that it was fine since anyone else did it?

Natha put his glass down and leaned forward, pushing the plate of meat toward me. "Why? Do you like me less because of it?"

"Nope," my answer came without a shred of hesitation. Like he said, it was a fair game if everyone cheated and knew others also cheated. It was just a matter of whether they could find out how. "Hmm...I can’t gamble, then. I don’t know how to cheat--scratch that, I don’t even know what you’re playing here."

"You can do it just for fun if you want, sweetheart," he said, just like Eruha. "Just treat it as a game."

"No," I frowned. Why did they give me a bad influence?! "I don’t want to waste your money."

Natha chuckled and put more vegetables on my plate. "I made money for you to waste."

"Not in gamble! I’d rather waste it on food!"

"Is that so?" Natha stretched his lips wide, stroking my hand that had been stopped moving for a while now. "Eat a lot, then."

"Yep--oh..." I paused, remembering my situation. "But I can’t right now, hehe..."

Natha tilted his head and looked at me with concern. "Why?"

"Arta told me to not gain any weight," I told him.

"What?"

I shifted my gaze from the food to him, raising my brows in surprise as I saw his knitted brows and cold gaze.

"No, no--don’t get angry," I shook my head and grabbed his hand. I didn’t think he would be this upset, and now I got worried for Arta’s safety. "It’s so the poor seamstresses won’t have to constantly alter my wedding outfits."

"That’s--"

"It’s okay," I tightened my hold on his hand, giving him my best smile. "It’s only until the wedding, and I can eat a normal amount. Just...you know; less snacking."

The coldness in his eyes finally lessened, but the frown persisted on his forehead. "I prefer seeing you eat whatever you want," he said.

Aww...my lips stretched wider hearing that. I was glad that he didn’t seem to care much about my appearance--or how it changed, rather. And I was sure that he would rather pay the seamstresses extra extra money to just fit the clothes to whatever my size would be right before the wedding.

But I didn’t want to impose that on them. I wanted my wedding to be a happy--and not stressful--event for everyone, including the workers behind the scenes.

"Don’t worry, I can eat whatever I want after the wedding," I grinned and let his hand go to grab my utensil again. "I’ll thoroughly enjoy the feast!"

The silver eyes lingered on me for a few seconds before he sighed in defeat. "Make sure you do."

"Well, you’ll be there to make sure I do," I shrugged, and Natha finally smiled again.

He still told me to eat a lot tonight, telling me to treat it as a cheat day--since we were on a date anyway. Well...I guessed I’d just train with Alveitya tomorrow, and made a visit to Ignis’s cave. We talked about all of the ventures I saw today, and what else I hadn’t seen.

"Anyway, Nat," I paused to take a spoonful of a warm, baked pear-like fruit, before continuing. "When do you have time to study Earth’s economic system or technology, anyway?" I bit the spoon while trying to recall the days when Natha was in Nathanael’s body. "You have to be a doctor in the day, and you talk to me during the night."

And surely, he needed to sleep in between...right? His body was only that of a human after all.

"In my spare time," he shrugged before proceeding to fill my glass with more wine. "Don’t you know? I read a lot of books and scoured the--what was it called, internet?--that so I could answer your curious questions."

"Oh..."

"Also, Nathanael was playing some stocks, so his knowledge filled my mind automatically."

"How convenient!"

"As convenient as your spearmanship."

Oh, right. I giggled and continued with my dessert; a sweet indulgence that would become a rarity for me until the day of my wedding. But then, Natha put the wine bottle down and moved his chair closer to mine, so I couldn’t help but stop moving my hand--which then he took on his.

"So you see, sweetheart," he said while looking keenly into my eyes, and I could only swallow my baked fruit wordlessly while my heartbeat soared. "It’s thanks to you."

"D-don’t make me blush!" my fingers curled inside his cupping hands as my voice morphed into a sharp whisper. "I’m blushing enough as it is."

"How can you ask me such a question?" Natha laughed, bringing his face closer to me. "This is a date; it’s my objective to make you blush."

While I was blinking in a daze, he gently kissed me for two seconds, before pulling away while licking his curling lips. Look at this demon flirting when he knew it would make it harder for me to step into the portal.

"...are you sure you don’t have an incubus blood?"

He only laughed before kissing me again, longer this time. Bad, bad demon. I spent ten minutes in front of the portal wondering if it would be worth it to break the oath, questioning my integrity and how guilty I would feel if I stayed.

In the end, though, I felt a strong pull from the other side that compelled me to get going. And just so, I was greeted by a series of loud, angry chirping and a fluffy bird stomping around the portal as if making a ritual to summon me.

[Master bad!] was what Jade shouted before plopping onto the pillow face down.

I pressed my lips to hold back my laughter before poking the sulking bird. "I’m sorry, baby..." I peppered the bird with kisses to apologize, explaining that I was staying longer because I had a lesson with Eruha, not just frolicking with Natha.

Only after finding out I was studying that Jade cease its anger. [Master should tell Jade! Jade very worry!]

"I should, shouldn’t I?" I caressed the green head and hugged the bird close. "I’ll make sure to tell Zia through the orb next time, okay?"

[Mm...]

Thankfully, the little bird did not sulk for long. Phew--it was good that I didn’t stay another night. Forget the oath--I would have to face a wailing bird the next day.

But thanks to the stay and the romantic candlelight dinner, I was charged with so much energy that I woke up feeling so refreshed and energetic. Enough for me to spend a whole day training with Alveitya and make sure that my weight stayed constant afterward.

And what do you know; I could maintain the new breathing exercise even longer after doing it for a few days, despite still missing Natha in between. I couldn’t practice what Amarein taught me, but I ended up being busy enough by helping Zia make picture books for Jade--which further quelled the little bird’s annoyance.

And so, without realizing it, the day of Natha’s visit came again, and this time, he didn’t come alone.

He came with another...box. Not crate, but rather, something like a vault--made of metal and locked with magic formation.

I looked at the twinkling silver eyes and a group of cloaked shapeshifters carrying the vault. "Is this another...smuggled item?"

With a deep smile, Natha knocked on the side of the vault. A sharp whirring sound suddenly filled the air, and the door to the vault creaked open, sending a green-skinned figure tumbling out.

"Yes," Natha said, glancing at the wheezing demon. "A smuggled item, fresh from the Realm of Envy."