The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 478: All of us has our own story, so let’s stick with it

Chapter 478: All of us has our own story, so let’s stick with it

What the hell?!

So the key was in my hand the whole time?!

Well, it was in Natha’s hand, to be exact, but still!

Instead of checking the magical puzzle scroll, I went to bury my face in my hands. "Oh, Mother! Thank Gods I didn’t throw these all away!"

Thank the High Lord and Ladies I didn’t succumb to my immature thought of getting rid of Valmeier’s possessions just because I didn’t feel any attachment to them!

"It’s not like you know," Natha stroked my shoulder in consolation. "Even Valmeier had no idea. Actually, it’s kind of a miracle that the bracelet did not fall before the war, considering he had fought way before that."

I raised my head and looked at his gentle smile. Grasping his face, I kissed him hard in gratitude. "Thank you! Thank you for retrieving the stuff from my lodge!"

Honestly, He didn’t need to since there was nothing I wanted from there, and he had already provided everything I needed to live in the Lair. But he went out of the way to retrieve them just in case they were valuable to me.

Gosh--it was like the world didn’t want me to run out of a reason to love him even more.

He tilted his head and smirked. "Just one?"

I grinned and kissed him again. "Thank you for not throwing them out when I told you to get rid of it."

"You didn’t," he chuckled. "You just told me to put it somewhere you couldn’t see."

Was that so? I couldn’t remember since it was almost a year ago. I grinned sheepishly and would have kissed him again if it wasn’t for Zarfa clearing her throat and making me remember that others were still there.

Oh, and that we had a document to peruse.

I coughed in embarrassment and finally took the sheet from my lap--so fortunate; because I was too embarrassed to face the nun without this distraction.

"Ah, this is in human language, so you can also read it later," I told them as I read the passages on the sheet. My fingers stiffened a bit as I read, but I distracted my mind by continuing to peruse the other section. "I think...this is a map?"

I put the sheet on the table and, in the corner, there was a magic circle that could show a projection map if mana was poured into it. Hmm...if I could do it with the mana from the goddess’s blessing, shouldn’t the Hero be able to do it, too?

"Here, you try it," I told the Hero, who raised his brow and took the sheet awkwardly.

"Umm...is it okay? I mean...this is essentially a letter, right?" Jin glanced at the words portion of the sheet, but I nodded.

Not because I didn’t care about the content or thought it was unimportant for Valmeier. In fact, I thought it was more important for the Hero and the companions.

"Seems like that man wrote it, so there was no passage explaining his origin," I told them. "It’s explaining where he met my...umm...mother, however, and I think...you’ll find it quite relevant to your plan."

"What?" Zarfa put her cup down. "You mean...with that accursed kingdom?"

I nodded, and my friend slammed her palm on the armrest as she stood up abruptly in anger. "Are you telling me she..." her lips trembled as her eyes shook. "Was she..."

"Quite likely, since she should have a bigger mana pool than any girl looking her age," I let out a deep breath and closed my eyes.

I was half-joking when I thought Natha was going to ’eat’ my mana like that kingdom’s royal family. Never in my wild imagination, however, would I ever think Valmeier’s mother was one of the victims.

"I see," the nun nodded. "Perhaps your father...that man, rescued her from there?"

"Yes," I sighed and glanced at the ’letter’ or rather a how-I-met-your-mother story. "But he was rather late, and most of her mana and life force had been taken. She could live like a normal human being, but after giving birth to...me..." I took a deep breath to steady my trembling voice. "She got weaker and...well, their condition wasn’t ideal to raise a child, so they asked the Old Priest for help."

Ah...this was complicated. She was my mother, and she wasn’t my mother. I didn’t really have a good memory of my own, real mother, and I didn’t know what Valmeier’s mother was like so...I truly had no idea what I should feel. What I wanted to feel.

I was sad, but was I feeling sad because of her poor fate, or because she was our mother? I had no idea.

That being said, I did feel grateful that she gave birth to Valmeier. And I was grateful for my parents too because of it. Even with all the bad memories, I couldn’t come to hate them.

"It seems that she passed before his first visit, and he left this because he didn’t know if he could live long or continue visiting," I continued. "Just like Jin, he was being chased, and seeing that he never visited again after that, we can assume he’s dead already."

"Val..."

Zarfa grabbed my hand--the one that was free since Natha had been holding the other one. Again, I took a deep breath and smiled. "It’s okay," I said. "You’ll bring that kingdom down anyway, yeah?"

"Of course!" Ian replied through gritted teeth. "Right, Brother Jin?"

"Mm," the Hero nodded and grabbed the sheet--this time without hesitation. As I did before, he poured his mana into the magic circle, and a shimmering, holographic-like projection came out.

As I thought, it was a map.

"It was where her grave lies, but he also mentioned it was his ’safe place’, and where he felt the closest with the Goddess, so it might be the place you’re looking for," I told them. "You should keep that since you can access it anyway, so you can make the journey whenever you like."

"What?" the Hero looked at me with widened eyes. "Aren’t we going to go...together?"

"No," I tapped Natha’s lips before he could open them and say something uncomfortable. Thankfully, he complied and pressed his lips with a reluctant grip on my knee. "I don’t have time right now or...for the whole year after this. But I can’t very well be holding you back just because I have no time to go, so you should just go with the others."

I didn’t know how long it would take for Shwa to be born--would it take nine months like normal fetus development? Would it be faster or longer? I had no idea, and even if it was faster, I was sure I would just spend my time taking care of our baby. Naturally, I wouldn’t leave Shwa alone for a journey, or bring the baby out of our safe space.

This time, it was Zarfa who looked surprised. "Huh? A whole year? W-why?"

"I’ll tell you later," I whispered, patting her hand reassuringly.

Surely, I couldn’t just say I was planning on making a baby in front of this audience, could I?

"But...don’t you want to see her grave?" Jin was persistent. "Don’t you want to know what happened to the Goddess?"

Honestly? Not really--about the Goddess, I mean. As for her grave...

I had the thought of moving it to the druid settlement, but I had to discuss it with the druid first after seeing the condition of said grave. Still, neither were things that I needed to do quickly, so I’d rather focus on Shwa for now.

"I’ll visit later, with my child."

I could feel Natha’s smile against my fingers, so I lowered my hand and let him out of his ban. Naturally, the Hero and Ian looked at me confusedly.

"Huh? You can just bring Jade now, can’t you?" Zarfa tilted her head.

"Not Jade," I told her, and from how her eyes widened, I think she caught on to it. But like a good girl, she pressed her lips and retreated to her seat quietly to gulp some more coffee.

The Hero was looking at me with a mix of confusion and suspicion, but I had no intention to explain myself to him. He glanced at Natha for a second, before taking a shot of spirit himself.

Huff--finally, after all kinds of surprising things, we had met our objective; finding out Valemeier’s birthday and the trace of his father which, hopefully, would lead to the Goddess.

But the business with the Goddess was not mine. It was the Hero’s story, the Hero’s journey. My story was back home; with my husband and my future child. Thus, I would back out here, and let the Hero do what he was supposed to do, while I did what I was supposed to do. Each with our role, each with our story.

And I believe that was how things were supposed to be.