The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 43: The Name On His Lips

Chapter 43: The Name On His Lips

"Val..."

"Hmm?"

"Why are you so restless?"

I turned a page from the book in my hand before replying briefly. "Am I?"

"Just so you know, you spent two hours just to read that single page you just turned," Zia wiggled her finger at me from across the table.

"I’m a very careful and detail-oriented reader," I replied with a shrug.

The purple eyes narrowed in doubt, and I could see her mischievous smirk. "Is that careful and detail-oriented method includes looking over the door and window every ten minutes, and brooding for another five each time?"

Leaning back and pursing my lips, I closed the book while grumbling. "That’s exaggerated..."

"It’s not! Even your little bird watching you in confusion," Zia pointed to Jade, who did actually staring at me.

Hmm, so...that obvious huh? Putting the book aside, I crossed my arms and reflecting on my behavior today. Perhaps, I really did act quite restless.

Yesterday, as I finally counted the passage of time and realized a week had gone by, I was feeling jittery. Questions like ’will he come today’ kept popping up in my head. I ended up spending the afternoon on the balcony’s large sofa until I fell asleep there. When Angwi woke me up for dinner, I was feeling disappointed that it wasn’t Natha that woke me.

Embarrassingly, I went through dinner feeling upset like someone being stood up by their date. It got me anguishing in the bath and rolling on the bed after for the way my mind acted so entitled.

So what if he didn’t come in a week as he said, yeah? Was I some kind of insufferable lover that demanded attention 24/7?

I chided myself, and fell asleep, and woke up feeling upset for the golem servants who changed the bedsheet and the pillow, because it no longer smelled like Natha.

Goddamnit! Just like during the festival, everything in this tower reminded me of him, which was obvious since this place was his lair in the first place. Everything here was his possession.

Including me.

And a possession had no right to demand the owner’s attention.

With that mindset, I went through the day as usual, but soon found out my eyes chasing the shadow on the balcony, on the bed, in the sitting room—every room that I had a chance to spend some time with him in would make me stop and brooding.

Like in the library, apparently.

I gazed blankly at the window again, vaguely catching sight of the capital city’s tower. "I miss him,"

With a mumble, I confessed, and the next thing I knew, she already hugged and patted me from the side while cooing mirthfully as if giving praise. "That’s it~! Good job, baby boy~"

"What the hell?" I shoved the giggling succubus away and decided to try concentrating on another book.

But it was futile. I missed him, and I was upset with the thought that he probably didn’t miss me as much, seeing that he still wasn’t here as he promised. I felt disappointed as my expectation was crushed, and disappointed with myself for having such expectation in the first place.

Did I not tell myself that I should not harbor things like hope and expectation?

Did I not tell myself that I should be careful about my own feelings?

I spent the night counting imaginary stars on the dark ceiling while my mind found excuses for why Natha didn’t come as he promised. He was the Lord, he was busy, and he had no time to entertain an entitled, useless, and spoiled kid like you. Imaginary scenarios and past memories mixed in as voices inside my head and brought my mind to drift into sleep.

Just as I felt like my consciousness was slipping, I felt the mattress dip, and a shadow loomed over me. With a groggy, sleepy mind, I opened my eyes and stared at the deep silver eyes gazing at me.

"Don’t wake up," a gentle hand stroked my hair, but the voice wasn’t as soft as usual.

"...you’re going again?"

Natha looked at me with a slight frown. The silver eyes rippled amidst the darkness of the room, and even though I couldn’t see clearly, I felt like he was tensing up so much. The creaking sound from the side of my head told me that he was clenching the sheet tightly.

Weird—he looked rather messy and anxious, unlike his usual neat, confident self. Was the situation in the Lord Castle so chaotic that it drove him into this state?

Because of me?

"I’m sorry," even his voice sounded a bit rough and shaky. "I’ll be quick this time, just five—no, three days. I’ll try to come in three days..."

I could hear his breathing, harsher, as if he was struggling with something. So the situation was that troubling? And here I was getting antsy because he couldn’t appear in front of me on time...

How despicable of me.

"You don’t have to push yourself to visit here if you’re that busy,"

"No, that’s—"

"It’s alright, I’ll be waiting," grasping the clenching hand beside my head, I stared at his barely visible face, at the glint of the twin moons. "I’m not going anywhere."

The clenching hand moved to grasp mine, and as our fingers interlaced, I asked him boldly, with every ounce of longing that I had as fuel. "But, before you go...won’t you give me a kiss?"

"Oh, sweetheart..."

He leaned down, and for a second, I could see his face better, adorned with a frown and suppressed emotion, before his lips touched mine and I could no longer observe his face.

He kissed me gently, with a hand holding mine, and another stroking my cheek. I could feel his body hovering above me, enveloping, warm...

My free hand found a way to his arm, and as I touched his shoulder, and neck, and cheek, I realized something strange. "Natha..." I ran my fingers along his exposed skin, from his sharp jaw to his sturdy chest. "You’re...burning up..."

Even through my dazed mind, there was no way I would miss the way his body emanated heat. I was already familiar with the cold temperature of his skin that felt like snow, so much that it actually brought me comfort rather than aversion.

But now, even through clothes, he was warm. I could feel his heart pumping blood rigorously, and how his muscle twitched and his vein pulsed like an agitated beast.

Just then, I heard his breathing going rougher, and when I lifted my gaze to his face, I saw him panting, lips parted in a snarl, and jaw clenched hard. And his eyes...

The silver orbs were blowing wide, glinting in a suppressing light, gleaming dangerously within the darkness. It was a face I had never seen before, and when I froze in a sudden, shuddering fear, he let go of my hand and grabbed my waist.

In a moment when everything swirled around, my senses were being razed with unknown fire. Whether it was his hot, aggressive, consuming lips that took my lips harshly in a hard kiss, his tight hold on my waist that spread fire across my skin, or the way his knees parted mine and his hips pressing hard on my lower body—everything happened all at once and muddled my head.

My already dazed mind seemed to be pushed further back as his grip on my neck and waist rendered me immobile. There was nothing I could do but receive the harsh tongue that came inside, and the nibbling and sucking lips that moved as if he wanted to eat me.

Unconsciously, I let out a restrained whine at the weight of his body pressing on mine. With my legs up straddling his thigh, I had no ground to move, and all I could do was just clutch tightly to his arms. The heat spread from his body to my skin through his hand roaming the skin beneath my nightshirt.

The sudden heat touching my cool skin made me shiver involuntarily, and I gasped at the feeling. That gasp was instantly drowned by his lips again, and it was then—the pressure on my lower body, the fiery touch upon my skin, and the fervent lips that rendered me dizzy—there was only one thing crossing my mind;

I was... being devoured.

It was overwhelming. It was scary.

Right after the thought crossed my mind, everything stopped. The kiss and the touch were abruptly getting pulled away from me. Breathlessly, I saw the face of a frightened demon.

My eyes were blurry and glazed with unshed tears that I had no idea was pooling up in my eyes. But even then, I could see the way his chest was heaving in bated breath, and how the silver eyes opened wide and shook. His hands, which gradually left my body, were trembling. And so was the voice coming out of his mouth.

"I’m sorry..."

"...Natha?"

I felt his weight and temperature leaving me, and before I could even reach my hand out to touch him one last time, he faded already. "I...need to go now..."

And just like that, he vanished from my sight.

The only thing I could see were my hands, reaching out through the air for a disappearing shadow. My pale, slightly trembling fingers were gradually getting blurry, and it was then that I realized I was crying.

Something hard and lumpy in my gut and throat came out in an ugly sound of sobs. As I brought my hands to cover my wet eyes, the tight feeling in my chest told me that I wouldn’t be able to run away from it anymore.

Of how much I fell for him.

* * *

"My Lord—"

With wobbling steps, Natha opened the door to his suite with a harsh slamming sound. His secretary, who was waiting in the sitting room looked at the Lord’s wild eyes and snarling lips with widened eyes.

"Did you prepare everything?" Natha asked in a strained voice that was pretty much filled with a growl while walking toward his bedroom.

Swiftly, the secretary straightened his expression and nodded. "Yes, my Lord, the potions are ready, and we had set sealing arrays on every entrance point."

"Alright. Take care of everything in my absence."

Natha yanked his bedroom door open, but his secretary suddenly opened his mouth. "My Lord, are you sure you don’t want to call a courtesa—"

The secretary immediately closed his mouth as the Lord glared at him with cold eyes that he only used for his enemy before. "Apologies, my Lord. Please don’t worry about the territory affairs."

With a bow, the secretary waited until the door slammed shut with a loud bang. Immediately after, runes and formations shimmered on the door and walls of the Lord’s bedroom, sealing Natha inside his bedchamber.

Inside, the Demon Lord stumbled into the table, almost throwing the box containing bottles of potions to the ground.

"Shouldn’t have...seen him first..." with panting breath, he grabbed one of the bottles and poured the liquid into his mouth.

Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his mind, Natha felt the heat coursing his body diminishing for a bit. But the flame dancing on his abdomen never went away, and he felt sweat drenching his clothes already.

Groaning, he slumped into the floor, rolling on his back with a pant and glazed, unfocused eyes. Succumbing to his instinct, he reached down, undoing his pants, eyes squinting at the darkness of the ceiling and memories—both near and far away.

"Valen..."

Stroking himself miserably, his lips parted with a growling sound, and a single word reverberated over and over again, flowing between his panting lips like a prayer.

"Valen..."

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