The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 391: There’s always a fuss when the family’s baby leave the nest for the first time

Chapter 391: There’s always a fuss when the family’s baby leave the nest for the first time

For better or worse, Natha became less of a worrywart after receiving the inter-realm communication orb. Perhaps the notion of being able to have a call with me lessened his concern.

This is why phones and network systems are important, folks!

And this was why I begged Aina to somehow finish that smartphone she wanted to make. Well, I guessed making this inter-realm communication device was her effort to step forward into cellphone technology.

Getting less worried didn’t mean he became less vigilant, however. Despite the nice, intimate, tender moments we spent during the night, he looked at me sharply in the morning, right after breakfast and before I left for the Island.

"Don’t lower your guard; this time, you’re in someone else’s territory," he looked into my eyes and spoke with a stern tone. "If anything suspicious happens, no matter how small it is, immediately give me a signal."

"Alright, alright."

He grasped my face and shoved his face closer. "Answer me properly."

"Yes, I understand."

"Good," he said; and then smiled and kissed my forehead gently as if the stern expression earlier was a lie.

Except that it wasn’t a lie.

Phew--all of this...I knew he would send the shadow guard and the shapeshifters to tail me anyway.

"Remember to drink your herbal concoction--use the powdered one before I come over, alright?" he still continued. "Don’t just eat whatever, don’t settle for bad food."

Umm...how could I control that? Should I starve then if the food was bad? I swallowed my sigh and just nodded so he wouldn’t nag further.

I had thought his lecture was over, but he looked at Ignis and Jade next--my little snitches. "Look after him. You know how he can be--don’t let people use him as they please, okay?"

Geez--he really didn’t trust my self-maintenance.

"Mm,"

[Okay!]

Look at this little bird; only getting along with Natha at a time like this.

He checked on my equipment next, making sure I had the earrings and the rings, and that I wore the right cloak--the one with the temperature control one, even though Ignis could easily keep me warm in the human realm’s autumn weather. I was the one who would make the journey, but he was the one who got busy.

He even pulled Ignis, Jade, and Aina aside to...I don’t know, probably give them detailed instructions. He even had Aina on his team now, damn.

While Natha was huddling with the tiny creatures around him, Angwi came up to me to fix my clothes and fastened my cloak. Her eyes, however, never left mine. They were deep and...slightly glazed.

"I’m not going to be away for long," I told her. "Natha will check on me on the third day. There will be people looking over me too, guarding."

She pressed her lips and frowned slightly, hardening her stare as she touched my abdomen slightly.

"I’ll watch my food, promise. I’m bringing fruits and snacks and your packed lunch. I’ll be okay."

She sighed and grasped my cheeks with two hands, while her other hands stroked my shoulder and back. She looked just like a nanny about to send her charge to boarding school in another country, and I couldn’t help but feel down too. This would be the first time I was away by myself without anyone accompanying me, reminding myself of the Demon God’s trial.

Well...at least Ceci would be there.

I smiled and hugged her tight, feeling somewhat like a child. I was excited but also a little bit nervous, even though I was the one who said I would be alright and that it would only be a few days at most.

I wondered if people who left their house to study abroad felt like this...

She held me and stroked my back for a while, before pulling back and fixing my hair this time, tightening the cord tying it in a ponytail. She pulled the hood of my cloak over my head before stepping back. Only after she looked me over once again did she nod and turn away.

"Have fun and bring me some souvenirs, okay?" Zia jumped to my back and giggled. But when she got back to the ground and hugged me, she muttered quietly. "Don’t get swayed and stay there too long, okay?"

"Pfft--I have a wedding in a month. Why would I leave longer than I should?"

Zia pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Do you know how many brides running away before the wedding?"

"That’s because they are forced into the marriage, no?" I tilted my head, glancing at Natha who was in the middle of bribing my companions with expensive high-quality elemental mana. "Unlike me."

"Well...that’s true," she nodded. "Still--don’t get swayed!"

"I know," I rolled my eyes and knocked her head lightly. "I’ll see about the souvenirs. I’m not exactly there on vacation, you know."

"But you still need to rest in between purification, right? Why don’t you have a date with Lord Uncle while at it?" she glanced and Natha for a second before whispering closely. "He’ll be in his human disguise, so you can pretend you have a date with the ’young doctor’ you have a crush on in your previous life."

...Th-that’s brilliant!

Gasp! Should I ask him to wear a white coat?!

As I giggled with Zia because of it, Ian and Zarfa approached us. Immediately, Zia grabbed Zarfa’s hand and pulled her to the side to whisper about something, while the young paladin took out a sealed letter and gave it to me.

"This is the letter for Aunty that you told me to write," he said. "You--I mean...Brother Valmeier--bought her an artifact that could read written stuff out loud for her before."

"I know," I took the envelope, which was familiar since he used the stationary from this tower’s library.

Ian scratched his neck, laughing awkwardly as I flipped the envelope. "Heraz," I called my ’personal’ spy, and he opened the guest’s living room balcony as if he had been standing there the whole time.

Everyone else but Natha and Angwi flinched--and honestly, me too, since he didn’t come in the usual form he used when we talked in the suite. This time, he was shrouded in a dark cloak; and I said dark not because it was black in color, but because he looked as if he was enveloped in a shadow. Rather hazy too, if I must say. It was hard to perceive what his true form was unless I concentrated hard--and that also only worked because I knew how he looked like before.

For other people, he probably looked like a shifting shadow.

He knelt as usual, and I gave him the envelope. "Please take this to the blind nun, and stay until we receive an answer," I pondered for a while before adding. "If she gives you a location, then check it out too."

"By your command."

Even the voice sounded distorted. He took the letter and disappeared in a wisp of smoke-like shadow, leaving behind no trace of even an echoing sound.

"Alright, that’s don--are you alright?" I tilted my head at Ian who was hugging and rubbing his upper arms.

"Y-yeah?" he laughed wryly and chortled. "It just... sends me shivers."

"Don’t worry, he works fast," I smirked. "He can accurately tell me where you are all this time."

Ian parted his lips in shock and I patted his shoulder in return. "Alright, it’s time to go."

As I said it, the twin guards opened the balcony door where we would use the scroll. Since it was a rather big teleportation magic, we didn’t want to risk it by using it indoors. Fatia, the one with the most urgency, was the one who walked toward the balcony with the scroll in her hand. The other humans followed her one by one, and I came out last after Jade and Ignis hopped to my shoulder, hiding behind my hood.

They huddled around the scroll in the middle of the balcony, but before I could join them, I felt Natha’s cold fingers on my shoulder. Turning around to look at him one last time before the journey, I saw his silver eyes staring down at where his other hand resting; above the black pendant on my chest.

"I’ll follow you soon so we can feed our child."

We gave Shwa a big big meal yesterday morning, but our little flower buzzed joyfully inside. I couldn’t help but laugh at this greedy unborn baby, and tiptoed to give my Demon Lord a light peck.

"We’ll be waiting."

[Jade will guard Shwa too!]

Ignis didn’t want to lose too. "Worry not, for I’m here."

Natha patted the little bird, this time without any teasing, before finally letting me go. Zarfa circled her arms around mine while giggling, and for some reason, Aina held the sleeve of my other arm. Were they worried I’d get thrown out of the teleportation system or something?

"I’m ripping it."

I heard Fatia’s voice from behind and saw a gleaming magic circle beneath my feet right after the sound of paper ripping. As my vision started to be filled with light, I saw Zia and Izzi--by the force of the succubus--waving their arms. But all I could see next was Natha’s smile, and I didn’t look away until my body was pulled into a folded space and I had to close my eyes from the sensation.

By the time I opened my eyes again, we were...

...wet?