The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 479: That time I watch my friend make a contract with the demon

Chapter 479: That time I watch my friend make a contract with the demon

"B...b-b-ba-aaah..."

No, it wasn’t the sound of Jade learning to pronounce things right; it was the sound of Zarfa closing and opening her mouth in stutter after I finished telling her about the conceiving thing. I tried to tell her about the Primordial Seed but she got censored this time, so I had to dance around the explanation in the morning after her ears stopped ringing.

And this was her reaction.

"Y-y-you...you..." she started to breathe heavily and fan herself, standing up abruptly and going back and forth in front of the couch. "Y-y-you...oh...oh Goddess...oh..."

Welp--she looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Was it too much of a shock? She didn’t even react like this when she found me in this world, or when she found out Jade’s human form, or...anything else really.

Surely, there should have been something more shocking than conceiving a baby in this fantasy world, right?

...right?

I reached out and patted her back gently. "Are you okay? Calm down, girl--should I get you some water?"

She shook her head strongly, and proceeded to take a deep breath--or at least try to. She still gasped for quite some time, and I could only watch her in concern and confusion. Thankfully, her breath got even gradually, and she stopped fanning herself.

Instead, she looked at me wordlessly, without blinking, for almost a minute--before jumping to hug me tightly. I might as well call it a tackle since the force of her hug made us stumble back into the couch.

"Oof..."

I would have laughed if it wasn’t for the trembling back and the crying sound on my shoulder. She clutched my back tightly and started to sob, making me even more confused.

"W-why are you crying?"

"Be...because..." she pulled away slowly, stuttering with big tears dripping from her eyes. "Y-you...I...I know you--nggh--I kn-know you...when you...when you look at those ch-children in the hospital and...and...when you being all s-sad bec-because you k-know you can’t ha-have them...nggh..." she raised her hands and tried to wipe her tears, but her effort was wasted since more tears kept on coming. "I...I know th-that...you’ve been wanting them all along and...and...hwaaa..."

And then she proceeded to fully bawl, just like she did when she found out I was transmigrated to this world for sure.

"Oh, Ceci...don’t cry," I caressed the side of her head, and that only made her cry even harder. "I mean...I also have Jade already, so--"

"But it’s different!" she wiped her snot and took a stuttered breath. "This...this will have your gene!"

"Technically, Jade also has my gene--"

"It’s different!" she argued, slamming her hands on the couch like a little girl throwing a tantrum. "They’ll have your gene, and the Doc’s gene, and not just your mana but everything!"

"O-oh...you’re right," I smiled bashfully, feeling embarrassed for some reason. The notion of having someone, a living being, with both my and Natha’s genes was...

Hehe...I couldn’t help but giggle.

And that opened another gate of flood.

"Hwaa...I’m...I’m so happy..." she threw herself at me again. "I’m so happy you finally get to have what you want..."

"Then stop crying and laugh instead!" I scolded her, but I also started to have tears in my eyes. Ugh--it was all because of her! "It’s not just me; aren’t we all get what we want?"

Zarfa nodded against my shoulder. "I don’t care about having a kid, but I have a lot of money like I wanted..."

Pfft--I laughed, and cried, and laughed again, and we were such a mess in the morning that I didn’t even realize other people had entered the room.

"Natha, why Papa and Zarfa cry but laugh too?"

"Why do you think?"

"Hmm...laugh is when we happy, so...they cry because they happy?"

"Mm, it calls the tears of joy."

"Tears of joy!" Jade giggled and as I turned to look at them with a laugh, he pointed at me. "Jade not cry, but can Jade have a hug too?"

Natha chuckled and dropped Jade between me and Zarfa, and we had a hugging party while rubbing our cheeks against Jade’s chubby ones, making them wet.

"Aaah! Jade don’t wanna wet!"

That only made us rub him even more, squeezing the little boy between us amidst the screaming protest while Natha helped himself to the tray of morning coffee that Zarfa’s butler had brought to the room.

We only stopped when Jade clutched my lapel and buried his face in my chest, puffing his cheeks in annoyance. I laughed joyfully, but Zarfa fiddled with the edge of Jade’s shirt and glanced at Natha nervously.

"Um...are you...are you going to return today?" she asked carefully.

Ah, yes...since we already finished with our business--even a surprising development with Tsalinade--there was no reason for us to stay in the Human Realm anymore. But we had only been here for less than twenty-four hours, and aside from this morning’s talk about my future conceiving plan, I hadn’t really spent time with this friend of mine.

Well...I could just ask to stay here for a bit even while Natha returned on his own, but...

"Nat?"

"We can stay if you want," Natha said casually, surprisingly so, as he leaned against the windowsill.

’We’? Not just me? I looked at him in surprise and he continued.

"I’ve prepared to go away for a few days since I thought we’d need a while to figure out the date," he shrugged. "Since we managed to finish it quickly, might as well use the time for a small vacation."

Zarfa instantly perked up and grabbed my hands, swinging them in the air. "Stay! Stay! Let’s play some more! Let’s call Aina too and we can have a day out!" she said energetically. "Let’s go shopping and cafe hopping! Let’s buy Jade lots of clothes and let him try them all!"

Hearing his name mentioned, Jade turned his head slightly. "Candy too?"

"Candy too! Chocolate too!"

"Wow..."

Finally, the little boy stopped sulking and let Zarfa hug him. Well, that was fine and all, but...didn’t sound like a plan that someone like Natha would go through.

"Are you going to come too?" I asked him, who seemed to prefer enjoying the scenery of the garden and the city beyond.

"No, you go and enjoy yourself," he said, and then added with a chuckle. "I’ll let you talk about me if you want."

Oh, he knew us so well. I giggled and leaned on the couch’s backrest to enjoy looking at his sunlight-showered visage. I prefer his blue-skinned demon appearance still, but he was beautiful in any way.

"What are you going to do then?" I asked curiously. "Just lounging around sunbathing?"

"I’m going to visit the merchant association and see if I can bring my business here."

Vacation...a small vacation, he said?

"Whoa, so bold..." Zarfa covered her mouth teasingly. "You’re saying such a thing in front of me?"

"Competition is a recipe for a healthy economy," Natha replied nonchalantly before sipping his coffee. "Besides, we have different ventures anyway."

"Oh?" Zarfa raised her brow. "Ah, I see--you’re in finance, huh? Are you trying to bring your bank over here?"

Oh, right. Natha was the father of investment in the Demon Realm. He didn’t have much venture in the Human Realm, but he did have some to facilitate his spies and information gathering.

Looking at my husband and best friend, I made a light suggestion. "Hmm...why don’t you invest in Midas?"

Both Natha and Zarfa looked at me--Jade also, but with a blank look. "Isn’t Midas a family business, though? I don’t know about that..." Natha looked at Zarfa.

Surprisingly, my friend narrowed her eyes in serious contemplation, before finally giving a reply. "Not to Midas, but...what about investing in me?" she turned to Natha.

"Are you going independent? Or a subsidiary?" Natha put down his cup and crossed his arms--a sign that he also had become serious.

"Both," she said. "I’m going to make a subsidiary that is completely under my control--I still need Midas’s name to give me a boost, no? I..." she glanced at me. "I’m planning to make this place a base to spread a business to the northeast."

"Northeast?" Natha tilted his head, but I instantly knew what she meant.

"The principality?!" my eyes widened.

At the edge of the Human Realm in the northeast region, was the lake with a small island in the middle, and an area that used to be the druid kingdom.

My kingdom.

"Well, you said it yourself," she shrugged; her tone was casual, but I could see the spark in her eyes. "Rather than destroying it, we should take over it, making sure they couldn’t live without us. So I’ll do just that," he raised her head in pride and confidence that had been a part of her even in her previous life. "I’ll make sure even the nobles and the prince had to beg on my feet if they want something."

Wow, girl...that was some next-level thing you were planning.

"I don’t know how long I’ll need to achieve that, but..." she glanced at Natha with curled lips. "Well... I think it’ll probably go faster if I have a big, big investor on my side, don’t you think?"

"How cunning, using my lovely husband as bait," Natha chuckled. But he walked to the couch and reached out his hand. "Very well; let’s make a contract."

...wow.