The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 407: Demon Lord has no concept of being subtle

Chapter 407: Demon Lord has no concept of being subtle

With a start, I turn around to see a giggling Zarfa and Aina, as well as the others around ten meters behind me.

It seemed like...they gave me a bit of privacy, at least?

Fatia and Ian were politely turning their head away, while Jin...let’s not talk about him. I couldn’t see the Regent’s face as usual, but...ugh--it was so embarrassing. This is what is hard about going out for a homebody like me; I was either hyper-aware about the fact that I was out in the middle of strangers, or forgetting about everything altogether, especially when someone from home came.

It was a blessing that Natha fixed my hood earlier, so at least some of my flustered face could be covered.

"Umm...hi?" I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

"Can we come closer now?" Zarfa grinned.

"Y-yeah?"

She laughed and skipped toward me with stretched-out arms, taking mine and swinging them up and down. "It’s so cool! You’re so cool, Val!" she jumped and laughed and her happiness could be seen on Fatia’s face too, who followed behind Zarfa.

The Elementalist bent her waist and bowed deeply, repeatedly, in a fast movement. "Thank you! Really, thank you!"

Her eyes were wet again, although her cheeks were dry this time. There were traces of tears, though, so it seemed like she had been crying earlier before coming over to me.

"Uhh...I get it, but please stop doing that; I’m not doing this for free, remember?"

"Not doing it for free is one thing, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a job well done," the Regent finally spoke, and she bowed her head too. "So thank you...Sir Druid."

I could feel that she was struggling with her curiosity about my identity, and her eyes under the hood kept looking at Natha--who was in the middle of listening to Jade’s and Ignis’s report about what happened since we left the Lair--in caution. I pulled Fatia to the side, away from the hearing range, and whispered carefully.

"Did you say anything to her about Natha?"

"No, no--" she swiftly shook her head. "I only said you are a druid we met on the way. I did send a report that we were entering a demon realm at that time--you know, before we passed the barrier to the Lair. But I never told her that you live in the Lair."

"We decided to tell her that you were my old long lost friend and that I could vouch for you--which is true enough," Zarfa added. "She did ask me about you yesterday, but I told her I couldn’t say anything without your permission, so you don’t need to worry."

"Hmm..."

"I think..." Fatia glanced at her mother. "She’s probably curious because Lord Natha emanates such a powerful mana which origin is veiled from our senses. And a human this powerful should be well-known across the realm, but she couldn’t recognize him, so..."

Oh...that made sense. I nodded then, and we walked back to the group. I approached Natha with Zarfa and Aina, while Fatia tried to move us along.

"Should we come back for now? I think Sir Valen needs some rest now," Fatia said to the group.

"I agree," Natha responded as if he had an automatic reaction to the mention of my name.

Natha’s response opened a door for his involvement, and the Regent used the chance to make an inquiry. "And this gentleman is...?"

"This is Sir Valen’s betrothed," Fatia answered swiftly. Yup, good job. That should be enough, right?

And then my lovely disguised Demon Lord introduced himself casually. "Nathan."

I almost coughed, and Zarfa was pressing her face on my back while shaking from holding back her laughter. Can’t...can’t you make up some other name, my Lord? Like...even using your subordinate’s name would suffice. Even Fatia was pressing her lips and lowered her gaze.

And yet, this Demon Lord was smiling calmly. Too calm and nonchalant; the storm-like eyes stared straight at the Regent as if...in a challenge.

Did he...just taunting the Regent? Did he intentionally use a human name closest to his own name to see what the Regent would do? Humans didn’t have much intel on the Demon Realm, but they at least knew some of the Demon Lords’ names--especially those who had reigned for a long time like Natha and Sada.

It seemed like Natha wanted to see what the Regent would do with that information, showing a hint that he might have a connection to a Demon Lord--you know...since her daughter had just come back from an adventure to other realms? Would she act upon it, knowing said person was the fiance of the person who ’cured’ her land?

I narrowed my eyes at him, half wanting to pinch him from pulling something like this, and half curious about what the Regent would do too.

Before I could hear her response, however, a familiar loud voice approached us. "Oh, Sir...are you going back to the town?"

"Yes."

"In that case, would you stay in my manor for tonight?" the Mayor clasped her hands together. "I’m...I’m not trying to start anything, really...Sir--but..."

The Mayor looked back, at the villagers and townspeople that had been roaming around the field. They touched the grass, dug the soil, and kids were rolling around on the ground as if checking if everything was real and not just an illusion. After all, two days ago, this place was still a dying land. Some of them were looking at our group while whispering among themselves, but most of them were still absorbed in the newly rejuvenated field.

"I can’t let you just stay in a regular inn again after all you’ve done. Please, Sir...I just want to show my appreciation," The mayor still had his hands clasped together, so it almost looked like he was begging.

"He has a point," Zarfa whispered.

"Is that place better than the inn you used?" Natha asked her.

"It’s a small town, Doc. No bougie resort here."

"Hmm..."

Fatia came forward to support the Mayor. "Perhaps it’ll be better, Sir. The citizens have become curious, and they might congregate in front of the inn to catch a glimpse of you. With the Mayor’s residence, even if they gathered in front of the gate, you wouldn’t get disturbed much."

Oh-ho!

"And my chef can cook you better food in the Mayor’s kitchen...I think?" Zarfa tilted her head, and the Mayor immediately nodded in agreement.

Uhh...it really didn’t matter to me if the bed wasn’t as comfy as the one back home, or if the food wasn’t as diverse, but...it seemed like everyone wanted me to agree.

Well, I also didn’t like the notion of having curious people around the inn, so I just nodded, which made the Mayor perked up. The man was rather short and had a rather chubby cheek, so he looked kind of cute... like a hamster? Even though he was already middle-aged.

He did a good job, however, in making sure the curious citizens didn’t come near me. Not that I would hate it if they did, but I was still rather awkward and...it made me feel guilty when they looked at me with awe and gratitude. I mean...I was doing it for a price! I was getting compensated! I tricked them to compensate me, so...

Phew. Anyway, I would rather not see their eyes and feel a misguided pride or something, so I just lowered the edge of my hood to block vision.

Not that I really needed to, since Natha was blocking the vision sufficiently. He was the tallest and biggest of all of us, including the Hero, so all I needed to do was stick close to him. His handsome face, which wasn’t veiled by Nightmare’s fear in this guise, was distracting people enough.

If I was getting kind of irked because it made me feel like losing my privilege...let it be my own little secret.

My favorite part, however, was the journey back to the town on horseback. Uh-huh, we rode the horse together.

Of course, at first, the horse was rejecting Natha just like it rejected anyone else. Even if I coaxed the horse, it didn’t budge, staring at the disguises Nightmare arrogantly. That was, until Natha pulled out something--almost like a cake, or a ball?--and gave it to the horse. It sniffed the item and its eyes widened, before eating it gleefully from Natha’s palm.

Afterward, the horse became so tame that it even nuzzled at Natha--or rather his pocket, probably looking for whatever Natha gave it earlier.

As expected of the Lord of Greed--his specialty was bribing.

But hey--now we could ride the horse together!

And oh, it was fun. It was different from riding Vrida together. Now--now it almost felt like riding a motorcycle. He took the reign from me, and I was snugly caged between his arms as my back leaned onto his chest. It took my everything to hold back from kissing him, but at one point, I felt his lips behind my ear.

"This is nice," he whispered.

Oh, I have no objection to that, my Lord.