The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 471: It’s something you can only do when you’re ready

Chapter 471: It’s something you can only do when you’re ready

Apparently, one of the promises Natha made to Jade was that the little bird--or boy--could sleep with us from time to time--which Jade used a lot at the beginning to make up for the time I was away.

Especially when Jade turned into a boy, because he wanted to sleep hugging me a lot. How could I ever turn down such an adorable request?

It was rather funny, however. Naturally, as both my child and my husband wanted to hug me, I had to sleep in the middle--embracing Jade while Natha hugged me from behind. But, more often than not, I would wake up with Jade sleeping between me and Natha instead.

I wasn’t sure how it came to be, but I could make a guess. As a habit, my body couldn’t help but instinctively look for the familiar coldness from Natha’s skin. Because of that, I would unconsciously turn around to dive into Natha’s arms. And Jade, who had lost my hug, would look for it dazedly and climb over my body to slip between me and Natha.

Et voila!

But do you know what was even cuter? The conversation they had when they woke up before me.

"Nightmare, Nightmare should teach Jade how to make Papa’s drink," I heard Jade whispering carefully, probably so that he wouldn’t wake me up.

Naturally, I pretended to be asleep still.

"Why? You can’t even reach the tabletop," Natha, of course, wouldn’t miss a chance to mess with Jade.

"Jade can! Does Nightmare not know a thing called stool?"

Wow...I left for a week and my kid getting better at countering.

"But it’s my job to prepare his drink--why should I tell you?"

"But Jade want to!" the boy started to get frustrated and raised his voice, but seemed to be immediately covering his mouth, before lowering his volume again. "Nightmare know it’s going to be soon..."

"What is?" Natha sounded amused. "Whisper it to me."

Unfortunately, since I was pretending to be asleep, I couldn’t hear what Jade was telling Natha.

"I see..." Natha sounded strangely accommodating. "Then what should I do on that day, since you will take my job?"

"Umm..." I heard some rustling sounds and Jade’s fidgeting as the boy tried to think. "Uhh...Jade don’t know!"

"That’s unfair..."

"But...but can’t Nightmare think of something? Nightmare is supposed to be smart!"

Oh, wow...did Jase just praise Natha? Probably unconsciously, and just so he could get what he wanted, but still...

"Hmm...this is hard," I could hear the cheekiness in Natha’s voice even with closed eyes. "You should do something for me first, don’t you think? Give and take."

"Give and take?" Jade repeated in confusion. "What Jade should give Nightmare?"

Oh-ho! I was also curious about this--almost made me want to open my eyes and peek at them. But I held back since it might prevent this interesting negotiation from happening.

"Isn’t it time for you to stop calling me with just ’Nightmare’?"

I could feel Jade flinch; his emotion was rushing through our bond, telling me that this child was actually flustered.

"Wh-why?"

Wow, he even stuttered.

"Why not?"

The reply seemed to catch Jade off guard because he actually got silent in stun.

"I’m not the only Nightmare out there, ain’t I? What are you going to do if my great-aunt is here? Are you going to call both of us ’Nightmare’?"

"Uhh...umm..." Jade fidgeted so much I could feel his little feet moving against my arm. "B-but..."

"But?"

Jade swayed harder and I couldn’t help but open my eyes a bit to peek at them. The little boy was shaking his head and covering his face. "N-no! Jade can’t do it!"

This child was growing so panicky that he even forgot to keep his voice low. At this point, I was sure that Natha knew I had woken up, but he acted like he didn’t, tilting his head and pulling Jade toward him instead so he could peel the tiny hands away from the flustered face.

"Why can’t you do it?" Natha asked again, persistently, although he did it in a soft and patient tone.

"Because...because..."

"Because you’re embarrassed?" Natha laughed while patting the green hair. "You look just like your Papa when you do."

Jade gasped and covered his mouth. "Really?"

"What kind of observation is that?" this time, I couldn’t pretend to sleep anymore.

"Papa!" again, Jade gasped and was about to move when Natha caught him and pulled the little boy further away in a tight hold. Naturally, Jade was rebelling. "What is Nightmare doing? Let go of Jade!"

"Nope," the demon’s lips curled into a smirk. "Not before you call me by name."

"No--Papa!"

Uhh...sorry, Jade--but this was rather fun. I did want to hear you call Natha by his name, because...it was funny. I knew very well that Jade liked Natha very much--except for the time Natha was acting annoying by calling him ’brat’--so I knew it wasn’t because Jade didn’t want to. If I had to guess, it was probably because Jade had been too used to calling Natha ’Nightmare’, and it was hard to change the habit.

Although he got used to calling me ’Papa’ so quickly.

"Uhh..." Jade’s lips started to quiver, but Natha was having none of it today.

"Don’t cry," he stroked the bowed lips once. "What is there to cry about? Only a child cries because they want to run away."

I didn’t know if that was the right thing to say in this situation, but apparently, it was effective for Jade. The little boy immediately straightened his back, pressing his lips as if he wanted to prove that he wasn’t a child. "J-Jade...is not...a child."

Natha merely smiled and waited, and so I did the same. We looked at Jade in anticipation, and the little boy fiddled with Natha’s necklace just like I usually did when I was nervous. "Uhh...Na..."

Unconsciously, I held my breath as I waited for that single word, almost as if I was waiting for my child to speak his first word.

"Na...Naih--uhh...Nnnn...Na-tha?"

Oh, gosh--why did I feel so touched? Just look at those softened silver eyes and the sweet smile across Natha’s lips. "That’s not so hard, isn’t it?"

"...’s hard," Jade pursed his lips.

"But you can do it," Natha said it as if Jade was just going through a big hurdle in life, while ruffling the green hair. "Good job."

"Yes, what a good boy," I laughed and reached out my arms to fetch Jade from Natha. "Come here."

"Papa!" Jade ran away from his nightmare and scampered toward me, holding me tight as if worried Natha would snatch him again. "Naih...Natha is a bully!"

Natha just scoffed as he got off the bed, but I could see the palpable glee from the brightness in his eyes when Jade did not revert to call him ’Nightmare’ again.

"But Jade," I caressed the sulking child. "You bullied him too when you refused to call him by his name."

Jade froze and hiccuped, eyes widened in surprise and confusion. "Jade did?"

"Didn’t Ignis tell you?" I tapped his nose. "Name is important."

"...oh!"

"Right?"

Natha chuckled and leaned down to kiss the top of my head, before grabbing the flabbergasted child from my lap. "Let’s go and make your Papa’s morning drink while you contemplate on life."

The stunned little boy got even more stunned, probably didn’t think Natha would pay his side of the bargain right away. Only after they almost reached the bedroom door did Jade stir and speak.

"Natha, Jade is sorry!"

"Mm, accepted. Sorry for calling you a brat too, yeah?"

"Okay!"

Wow...just like that? I could feel my lips stretched wide seeing my two favorite...entities getting along so well first thing in the morning. I doubt it’d stay long, but let’s enjoy things while they last.

I stretched in a good mood and rolled out of bed to get some fresh air from the balcony while they made me a drink. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes to savor the warm sunlight and inhaled the scent of life sprouting all over the Castle, hand traveling unconsciously toward the black pendant hanging on my neck.

But as I did, I couldn’t help but see that beautiful scene in my eyes; the curling eyes, the gentle smile, the way his face softened in a different way than the time he looked at me. It made my heart warm, and extremely greedy. And the greediness just kept growing when he came inside, leading Jade carefully as the little boy holding onto a full mug.

"Papa! Jade and Natha make Papa’s drink!"

"Thank you, baby!" I took the mug before it could spill, and gave my sweet child a forehead kiss as a thanks.

Jade giggled and climbed onto my lap after I took a seat and sipped on the nice drink that smelled slightly burnt but still delicious nonetheless. As Natha stroked my cheek absentmindedly while checking on his morning letters, I swallowed my nervousness and spilled my greed.

"Nat," I held the cold hand stroking my cheek and waited until he turned and looked into my eyes before continuing. "Let’s do it," I gripped his hand tightly. "Let’s have Shwa."