The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 419: Bringing your child into a new family could be an awkward business

Chapter 419: Bringing your child into a new family could be an awkward business

"My prettiest, cutest, fluffiest Young Master!"

Arta attacked me with a tight hug and a squeeze on my cheeks before my feet even completely off the last staircase.

"Oh, how I missed you!"

She rubbed her cheek on my shoulder and stroked my back, and she continued on my waist, upper arms, and ended up with twirling my confused self around.

"Good, no significant change," she nodded in satisfaction before releasing me, who felt like I was just being thrown in the middle of a storm.

What the hell? So she was just feeling my size earlier?

She could do that with just a hug?

Before I could wake up from the daze of Arta’s early morning attack, she was already turning around and reaching out her hand to Jade. "Sir Jade, your outfit is done! Let’s have a fitting when you’re turning again!"

[Clothes? Jade’s clothes?] the green head tilted in confusion.

"The one you’ll wear to the wedding," Natha told the little bird, and Jade gasped.

[Clothes for Master’s wedding!] Jade flapped its colorful wings excitedly creating an illusion of a rainbow in the middle of the living room. [Jade wanna try! Jade wanna try!]

"Do you want to turn again today?" I asked the excited bird.

[If...If Master give Jade yummy ball...]

"Let Valen rest for today," Natha said on his way to the dining table, but he added when Jade’s tails flopped down. "I’ll give you mana stones in exchange."

Once again, Jade gasped and flew toward Natha. [Nightmare will do that?] it landed on the Demon Lord’s shoulder. [Nightmare awfully nice to Jade these days]

"I’m always nice."

[That’s not true!]

Ah...sounds like home. This bickering, this affectionate skinship, even Lesta’s exasperated look and Eruha’s expressionless one. I hugged Arta back and laughed for this blissful morning. It was such a good thing that the stone sent me to the Lord Castle.

I mean...the Lair was totally nice and I missed everyone there, but the Lord Castle had more people and dynamics I hardly had any quiet morning while in here.

Well, it was kind of cheating, staying here like this. But I was supposed to review a lot of wedding business today, so...

Hehe.

"Let’s do another fitting this afternoon then," Arta said. "It’ll be our last before the final fitting right before the wedding."

"Oh...when you said it like that, it really came to me that it’s just a few weeks away..." I blinked in a daze.

"It’s less than a month now," Arta pinched my cheek, and then lowered her voice to a whisper as she smiled. "Are you nervous?"

"Hmm...not now," I looked down and touched my chest, before my lips stretched into a grin. "But I’m excited."

"That’s the spirit!" Arta laughed and patted my cheeks before going out of the Lord’s quarters, exactly like a storm.

"It’s good to be home," I nodded in satisfaction, before joining my soon-to-be-husband and my first child at the dinner table.

* * *

The main character for today was Jade--I decided it was so.

"Aaah...so cute..." I sighed and clasped my cheeks in adoration as we--me and Arta and the seamstresses--surrounded the little boy clad in a brand-new outfit.

Jade himself couldn’t judge his own appearance, being originally a bird and all, but he liked the attention he got and all the swooned faces around him--even the servants who helped the five fittings I needed to do today.

"Cute? Jade is cute?" the already adorable boy dressed in white and soft green asked with innocent excitement. He reached out and clasped my cheek. "Papa like Jade cute?"

"Of course I like it!" I pulled the sweet boy into an embrace, rubbing our cheeks together while laughing.

It wasn’t identical to my and Natha’s outfits, of course, but Jade’s clothes looked like a fusion of my white ceremony outfit and the green druid one. There was a small sage green cape with silver ribbon and embroidery over a white tunic, as well as a short that looked perfect with high-knee socks and boots. Arta even made a very cute hat that looked like a beret on Earth; white with a green ribbon that matched Jade’s green hair.

Anyway, my child is the cutest!

"Huh? Sir Jade called Young Master ’Papa’ now?" Arta asked suddenly, and I belatedly realized that no one but Natha knew Jade would start to call me that every time he turned into a child.

It made me flustered at first, but...when I felt the pang of emptiness and disappointment as Jade called me ’Master’ again in the bird form...I couldn’t help but longer for that word again.

Weird, huh?

"Uhh...well..."

"Papa is Papa because Jade is Papa’s child!" Jade raised his arms as he explained excitedly.

Not really a helpful explanation, and I could hear the seamstresses and the servant take a sharp breath--almost as if gasping--but...

"Of course!" Arta clapped her hands and laughed. "After all, Sir Jade worked really hard to be in this form because of it, right? Hmm, hmm, I understand," she nodded and stroked her invisible beard. "I actually wondered when you’ll start calling Young Master that."

"Hehe! You see...Papa’s old friends say it’s weird if Jade keep calling Papa ’master’ because it seem like Jade work for Papa," the little boy continued. "So Jade will call Papa ’Papa’ when Jade in this form, because Jade is Papa’s child, not Papa’s slave!"

"Just in this form?" Arta tilted her head. "Sir Jade doesn’t call Young Master that when you’re a bird?"

Jade gasped and looked at me. "Can Jade do that too?"

I was so caught up in emotions that I merely nodded without a word.

"Oh! Jade will do that, then!"

"Hmm..." Arta patted her chin and gave us a curious look. "Does Sir Jade call His Lordship that too?"

Jade tilted his head. "Why? Jade is Papa’s child, not Nightmare’s."

Arta bit her lips to stifle her laugh because...Jade kept calling Natha ’nightmare’ despite trying to call others in their name nowadays. At this point, it even managed to sound like a call of endearment--like something special.

"Well...technically, Jade was born from nature and my mana, so..."

Jade wasn’t wrong. He had my essence, but not Natha’s.

"But Sir Jade," Arta smiled cheekily. "Once His Lordship marries Young Master, you will become his child too."

The gasp of realization that Jade let out at that moment was the sharpest he ever did. I laughed and told him not to think about it too much. Although it would be fun hearing Jade call Natha ’father’ or something similar, I felt like the ’nightmare’ that Jade uttered with a degree of unconscious affection sounded more endearing than anything.

Arta chuckled at the horrified expression on Jade’s face and started to take the fitted outfit off the dazed little boy. "Anyway, I think it would be cute to sew in crystalized snow flowers in the white tunic--go and contact the florist after this to make sure they haven’t sold all of their winter supply."

"Yes, Ma’am."

"A brooch on the ribbon would be nice too, yes...and let’s have something subtle on the hat, and..."

Arta kept giving more instructions to the seamstresses, and I took Jade for a snack break to recover him from his shock. Thankfully, we had enough new snacks from the human realm to distract the young mind. Between those and the new children’s book, it didn’t take long for Jade to forget the notion of treating Natha as his ’father’ next month.

Damn. If only you could forget about the word ’pervert’ that easily...

As I opened a pack of Midas’s preserved fruits, a knock could be heard on the living room door, followed by Lesta’s voice. "Is it alright for His Lordship to come in?"

"No! Wait a bit! Just a few minutes!" Arta shouted in panic and told the seamstresses to hurry with putting everything back on the chest.

Yep--to this day, Natha was forbidden to take even a peep at any of my five wedding outfits. He would know the general colors and styles since he had the paired outfit he needed to be fitted into, but nothing more.

It was quite an interesting custom, this one. Everything about my appearance would be a secret for him, and he would also be banned from meeting me for the whole week before the wedding. As I was going to be confined in the Lair, he too, was not allowed to leave the Lord Castle at all until the day of the ceremony.

Traditionally, this custom was made for the bride and groom to have time to think deeply about the wedding and the marriage after. There was also an additional reason; apparently, people said there were always all sorts of temptations leading to the wedding day, especially seduction. Staying put at home was hoped to minimize this thing; keeping people--old lovers, childhood sweethearts, or even random homewreckers--from any effort in disturbing the future wedding.

Of course, we believed that nothing like that could ever happen to us, but...when in the Demon Realm, do what demons do, I guess?

After hastily yet carefully placing everything inside the big chest so Natha couldn’t see anything--including Jade’s outfit--Arta finally allowed the two demons waiting outside to come in. Lesta entered with a groan, but Natha glanced at the chest with a smile and a gaze that conveyed how much he was looking forward to it.

Uhh...that kind of gave me pressure. I just hoped he didn’t get disappointed at anything later.

"Alright," Lesta arrived at the couch and suddenly dropped several ledgers, followed by some boxes, on the table. He looked at me and spoke with a smirk. "Let’s play wedding catch-up, shall we?"

...all of this?!

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