The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 363: I believe that practice makes perfect

Chapter 363: I believe that practice makes perfect

I waited until the tea became cold, before taking Jade to look for Zia. It wasn’t hard, really. There were only two places where she would be when she sulked; the library and her room.

So, there we were, knocking on her room. Zia wasn’t answering, of course, so I employed the best weapon. "Zia? Zia~ Jade want to see Zia..."

We waited for a few seconds before a quiet voice told us that the door wasn’t locked. When we entered the room, Zia was crouching on the armchair near her lit fireplace, hiding her face behind her knees.

Jade ran to the succubus and held Zia’s legs. "Zia, Zia, Jade sorry!" the little boy said. "Jade don’t know why, but Jade sorry that Zia upset..."

Oho--to think my little familiar would be willing to apologize without having to be explained that what he did might be upsetting to others...

You’ve grown, Jade.

"Jade just...Jade just upset because Zia don’t play with Jade anymore these days, don’t draw picture book with Jade anymore..." he fiddled with Zia’s sleeve, looking up with a pair of round green eyes. "Zia just looking at Elf, so Jade thought Zia want to play with Elf more than Jade."

Oh my, look at this very reasonable explanation.

"But Elf only play with Naga, and Jade upset because it make Zia not play with Jade..." the little boy pursed his lips, before taking out a few pieces of candy and putting them on Zia’s palm. "Jade sorry...will Zia forgive Jade?"

Oh, I should totally gave a piece of Gluttony’s candy to Jade later.

Zia lifted her reddened face slightly--of course, she wouldn’t be able to get mad at our cute little Jade. She sighed and let Jade grab her hand. "I’m not upset," she said quietly while I took a seat at another chair. "I’m just..."

She didn’t continue with words, only her face got a bit redder. So I took it upon myself to finish it for her. "Embarrassed?"

"Ugh--" she bit her lips, before finally taking a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah..."

Of course, Jade didn’t understand why. "Embarrassed? Why Zia embarrassed?"

"That’s..." Zia pursed her lips and averted the bright, inquisitive green eyes. "Jade needs to grow up a bit more to understand."

Indeed--and I had no intention of letting my little bird-boy grow up too fast.

Wait...would Jade morph into my adult self after he grew up?

Oh--I digress.

Anyway, Jade didn’t seem to like it that his lack of experience in life hindered him from understanding something. But he got over it quickly after seeing how uncomfortable Zia looked. "Hmm...okay, Jade won’t ask" he shook his head lightly. "But Zia not angry with Jade, right?"

"No," Zia shook her head too.

Jade grinned and stretched his arms up. "Hug?"

Finally, the succubus’s lips cracked a smile. She lifted Jade to the chair and they hugged each other tightly. What a cute sight. Good, I would be able to leave Jade here tonight, fufu...

And then, we heard a knocking sound on the door again. I could guess who it was, so I just stayed in my chair, looking at the dancing flame on the fireplace, pretending to not care. With a quiet sigh, Zia stood up and put Jade on her chair, before walking to the door and opening it after a few seconds of hesitation.

"Oh, umm...hey..." Izzi’s voice could be heard from the door, sounding rather timid and awkward.

I told Jade to keep quiet by placing my finger over my lips--and the good boy clasped his mouth with a pair of small hands--before we carefully peeked at the slightly cracked door.

"What do you want?" Zia asked curtly.

"Ah, no--just...are you alright?"

"Why wouldn’t I be?"

An awkward silence ensued, and Izzi’s shadow seemed to move in confusion; hand scratching his neck. "I see...that’s good," he said. "I’m going back for today."

"...okay."

Another silence, which almost made me suffocate. How could Natha be so patient with me when I fumbled with my words and thoughts?

"Tomorrow, there’s..." Izzi started to speak again, but immediately stopped and, after a while, corrected himself. "I can come tomorrow, right?"

"I’m not the owner of this place."

Damn, Sis--couldn’t you be more affectionate? I would have told her to be more honest, but...it would sound too hypocritical, wouldn’t it?

"Well, I’ll come here in the morning," he said, finally sounding firm. "See you tomorrow."

"...see you," Zia replied in a voice that almost sounded like a whisper, before closing the door.

As the succubus stood in front of the door silently, as if pondering about the way she responded earlier, I couldn’t help being a bit mischievous. "Zia..."

"W-what?"

"The male protagonist in the draft you’re writing now," I tapped on the corner of my twitching lips, "is an elf, isn’t it?"

What I received in return was a glare. "S-shut up!"

Ah...how fun!

* * *

After ditching--I mean, persuading--Jade by saying that he needed to cheer Zia up, I made a journey to return to the library, and met Neel on the stairs.

"Oh, Neel," I observed the half-naga for a bit, but she didn’t seem to get affected by what happened earlier. As an outsider, she probably felt more confused than anything. "Is Natha still in the library?"

"No, he said he’s going to check on the cliff or something," she shrugged.

"Oh, Ignis’s cave?"

She stopped walking and tilted her head. "Your talking gecko has a cave?"

"Oh, I didn’t tell you? Ignis is a Salamander."

"...well, fuck. You really have everything here."

I couldn’t but laugh, and like a summoning spell was activated, Natha’s figure came behind me in a flurry of black feathers. "You smell like fire," I said as he wordlessly picked me up like he would pick Jade.

"Like warmth?"

I patted his cheek and kissed his forehead lightly. "I like you cold better," I whispered, before turning my head to Neel and waving her goodbye.

While carrying me in his arms, Natha turned around and climbed the stairs to our suite. "So, I can have you for myself, now?"

"Yep," I tilted my head and whispered in his ear. "I left Jade with Zia."

"Good," he let out a harsh exhale. It seemed like he was feeling sulky because I was more interested in watching the drama and left him to look for Zia--this jealous demon.

To appease him, I held on tight and lowered my head to kiss him all the way to the suite. By the time our lips parted, the coldness had been washed away from his eyes. "How’s the cave?" I asked with a giggle.

"Pretty nice for a trap door," he shrugged.

"Right?" I laughed and gazed out of the window, to where my wyvern was. "And we had Vrida watching the river, so we’ll be informed immediately if anyone comes."

"Hmm..."

As expected, he still sounded displeased with the whole idea of letting them into the tower instead of intercepting them before they crossed the border. "I want to talk to them," I said softly, giving him my sweetest smile. "If we confront them outside, they might just run. But inside...they’ll be trapped," I tilted my head to look into his eyes. "Don’t you think it’s better that way?"

Natha did not give a reply, but the gleam in his eyes told me he was rather enjoying the concept of trapping the Hero and his companion in a place that Natha could control. "Promise me--"

"I won’t be reckless," I smiled and brushed his neat hair. "And I’ll call you immediately after they appear."

"You better," he looked at me with a pair of stern gaze.

"I promise," I told him, and then sealed it with a kiss that did not end until my back touched the mattress. "Oh, I forgot to tell you!"

Natha pulled away and hovered above me. His eyes were on my face, but his fingers were on the cords tying my tunic. "What?" he asked.

"I succeeded in absorbing the air elemental mana the other day!" I grinned and let him silently undress me: "I’m not floating one bit! She didn’t need to pull me back once on the second day!"

Natha made a pondering face--although his fingers didn’t stop, and the outer layer of my clothes had become undone. "I can’t decide whether I’m feeling happy because my bride is so talented, or feeling sad because it means he wasn’t thinking of me anymore."

"Pfft--that wasn’t what I meant," I flicked his nose lightly and pulled him a bit closer by his lapel.

"Enlighten me, then."

I grasped his cheeks and looked into his eyes. "It means I have gotten better at controlling the mana coming inside the body," I said, and watched his brow arched slightly. "So, I was thinking that I might be able to control another kind of substance too."

His brow arched higher and I ran my hands along his shoulder, down to his arms that were perching on my waist. Leading one of his hands over to my abdomen, I whispered. "What do you think about...a practice session?"

The only answer I got was his hungry touch and thirsty kiss.

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