The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 42: How do people exercise their breathing?

Chapter 42: How do people exercise their breathing?

The moment those words came out of my mouth, I felt his hand on my waist and nape, holding tight, pulling me closer. The gleaming silver eyes disappear from my sight the moment he claimed my lips.

Again, it felt as if the rest of my body was melting and tingling. Holding tight to his shoulder, there was nothing I could do but left Natha consumed me.

But it was different from the last time. He wasn’t as aggravated, and while it felt consuming, his lips were gentle. Rather than feeling as if being pulled in a sprint like before, he guided me patiently this time. The hand on my nape moved my head along with his, so our lips slotted better with each other. He rubbed my nape gently, and I parted my lips as if being coaxed, feeling his tongue slipping inside.

Clutching on his shirt and closing my eyes tight was the only thing I could do as he roamed my mouth with his flesh, each touch sending a tickling sensation all over my body.

But soon, I felt breathless, and instinctively pushed on his shoulder. Fortunately, Natha realized my intention instantly this time, and broke the kiss. My feet, which had been lifted a little, returned to the ground as I stood with bated breath. If it wasn’t for his arms supporting me, I would have become a puddle on the ground.

Regulating my breath, I leaned my head to his chest, relishing the cold sensation that emanated from his skin to cool down the heat I felt all over my body.

Haa...damn. How exactly could people kiss for a long time? This inexperience of mine felt really embarrassing.

I felt Natha’s arms around me, pulling me closer into his embrace. He had kissed my hair a lot before, but somehow, it felt more intimate now, knowing that those lips were in mine just a few seconds ago.

As I nuzzled more into his embrace, I felt something that wasn’t usually there. A cold metallic feeling was on the center of his chest. Pulling my head away and tracing my fingers there, my eyes finally land on a piece of round green gem, encrusted in a throne of black metal.

"Oh..."

Since my eyes were at the same level as the pendant, it kind of felt like I was staring at my own eyes. I stroked the deep emerald and glance up, at the smiling lips and soft silver orbs. Those lips, which seemed to never cease stretching tonight, pressed gently on my forehead.

"I’ll see you in a week," he said, in a voice that felt like a promise. "Wait for me?"

"What else will I do?"

* * *

*CHIIRPP*

The first thing that greeted me in the tower was the loud whining sound of my one and only familiar. Jade was still a little bundle of feathers, even as it frantically flapped its wings, shooting forward and headbutting me the moment I stepped foot into the tower’s hall.

"I know, I know, I miss you too, buddy," I patted Jade’s little head as it nuzzled into my cloak, all the while letting out high-pitched whining sound.

I knew from our connection that the little bird truly missed me a lot. Its happiness of bathing in my mana was conveyed through its glittering green eyes and excitedly wriggling wings.

Ah—this feeling of realizing that someone was waiting for me...it was nice.

Including the time we spent on the journey, I had left the tower for six days. It would be the first time since its birth that Jade got separated from me, and it was probably hard for the little guy. Although Jade still looked as round as ever, its green bead of eyes had dimmed considerably, as if it lacked sustenance.

To appease the little guy, I spent the next few days playing with Jade. I showed the little bird the marble-like stones I bought from the market the other days, and other little trinkets we got as souvenirs. It sleeps on my chest and ate from my plate for a few days, defiantly throwing tantrums if I moved away out of its sight, like a rebellious kid.

Well...I guessed I did leave the little guy to have fun on my own.

"Hmm...but when would you be able to go out of the tower?" I poke its round head, which had been persistently pecking at the hard candy we bought on our way back. "...not that I think we’ll go away sometime soon..."

It wasn’t like I had someplace to go. Natha did teach me the disguise spell activation, but where would I use it anyway? Was I allowed to roam outside the Lair’s area in the first place?

*chirp chirp*

"Adolescent?" I tilted my head at the response. "But you’re still baby now..."

I straightened my back then. Wasn’t Natha telling me that Jade was close to evolving last time? I stared at the little bird, and sensing my thought through our connection, it perked up. The ball of feathers suddenly stiffened up, as if standing in attention.

"Should...we try? If I give you a bigger amount of mana..."

With two doses of Amrita ingested during the journey, my blockage had opened halfway now, and thanks to the constant herbal drink I consumed every morning, I felt like the circuit was even stronger than the one during Valmeier’s day.

Jade chirped energetically. Perhaps the little guy understood that it could only accompany me everywhere if it grew stronger. With little wings flapping in enthusiasm, Jade flew and landed atop my head, and we marched outside.

I kind of forgot about it, but I had wanted to try giving the little bird a different attribute of mana. All this time, I had been feeding Jade with the dormant mana inside of me, which was influenced heavily by the priest’s mark Valmeier left on my—our—mana core. So it always came out as either non attribute or light attribute mana.

"Alright...let’s see..." again, I stepped on the grass with my bare feet. I would like to go to the forest, but I still wasn’t confident in handling too much natural mana.

The things I found out after studying more about druids was that they were the shepherd of nature. Elf used magic through their contract with spirits of nature and elementals, whereas humans extracted magic through formulas, which was why they used magic circles, runes, and carved stigmas—like the one carved in my mana core.

But druids touched upon the mana of nature itself, without any intermediary. Guiding the attribute mana contained in their surrounding—that was how druids use their magic; the shepherd of nature. Since my ability to control attribute magic depended on the environment, I had to go to a place that contained abundant attribute mana. To avoid confusion, it would be better to visit a place where one particular attribute was cluttered.

The forest surrounding the tower was filled with wood attribute mana, but it was so dense that I might get woozy if I tried to ingest it before my proficiency went up.

After all, I was actually an amateur at this stuff.

Sure, Valmeier was an excellent battle priest, which help me comprehend the theory of magic easier. But he was a clergyman, not a magician.

So...yeah, amateur. Better started small.

The grass in the tower’s yard was rich in mana, probably because the whole mountain used to be a converging place for elementals. But it wasn’t as dense as the forest, so it was quite safe.

With Jade, I sat in the middle of the field and expanded my sensory, sensing the raw mana of nature, just like how I had been doing for the last few days. Gathering this raw mana with wood attributes around me, I let out my own, and fused them above my palm.

For a while, I could feel the grass sway and wriggle, as if responding to the energy pooling on my palm. The energy sunk into my hand, and I concentrated to gather it on my fingers instead of spreading them through my body.

Carefully, I reached out to touch Jade, which waiting patiently in my lap, looking at me with sparkling, determined green eyes. As my fingers touched the white feathers, and the energy flew from the tips toward the little bird, the green eyes flickered, and the white plumes shuddered. Slowly, like being doused by paint, the white plumes turned green, spreading from the place where my fingers touched to the rest of its body.

Jade, now a green ball, shuddered again. The wings trembled for a few seconds, and after stopping, the green color faded. Or rather, it was sucked into a point in its head, carving a little pattern in a light green color which reminded me of the patterns on the adult elemental bird.

"Oh?" was that means it was a success? After shuddering for a few seconds more, Jade bounced around my lap, head turning here and there to look at itself. I picked the little bird up to examine it clearly, but aside from the light, faded green pattern, nothing seemed to change.

"Hmm...like I thought, it wouldn’t be enough with just this," the bird chirped and tilted its head. "It’s alright, since today is just to see if you can digest another attribute mana," I stroked its head, and rubbed the new pattern gently. It was way lighter than the one on the adult bird, so I guess with more mana injection, the color would grow deeper.

"Let’s keep doing this, and see if there will be more change happening!"

The little bird jumped energetically on my palm, and I couldn’t help but grin at that.

And so, for the next few days, I kept feeding Jade wood attribute mana instead of the light one. Thanks to that, I spent more time outside, since I need to gather nature’s energy. I still fed the bird three times a day, since it was a glutton, but I would only feed it non-attribute mana during the night, since Angwi and the guards wouldn’t let me go out after the night fell.

That hefty schedule of feeding bore fruit no long after. Gradually, the color of the pattern above its head grew darker, and it became distinctive now. On the sixth day, another change appeared in the form of a green tint at the tip of its white wings and little flurry tails.

"Oh...? Oh!" I lifted the little bird that was no longer just a white ball to my face, and we rubbed our cheeks together with a laugh. "Wow, it really happened! I have to tell Natha about...this..."

It was then that I realized, amid my excitement over the small project, that a week had come and passed.

And...Natha was still not here.

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