The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 526: The worst enemy is the one from your own kind

Chapter 526: The worst enemy is the one from your own kind

Talk...there were so many things we had to talk about and clear up because of this incident, but there was one thing that stood up in my list.

Once everyone left the room, there was a few seconds of silence between us. Before he could say anything, I turned myself to the side and clasped his cheeks hard. Hard enough to make whatever he wanted to say slid back to the back of his throat as he looked at me with slightly widened eyes.

Staring keenly into his bloodshot eyes, I spoke with a firm tone that I gained from absorbing the pure mana inside the amulet quickly. "It’s not your fault."

I could see his eyes shaking slightly, and I could instantly imagine what kind of foul thoughts he had used to beat himself up for the past day while I was unconscious. I already heard them when I was pretending to sleep before, so I could guess--and I knew it would be even harsher this time.

"It’s not your fault," I repeated, putting more strength into my voice and my hands that gripped him. "I don’t want you to blame yourself because of this."

I didn’t need to use my brain to know that he thought everything was his fault. He already blamed himself for my mana deficiency, when it was clear that he couldn’t do anything about it. Even Mother could not predict that Shwa would need this much mana to grow, much less us mortals.

In fact, I knew that if it wasn’t for Natha, I would be in a worse condition. Could other people provide me with mana stones equivalent to the amount that a realm needed to go to war? Could other people emptied several auction houses to provide me with meals that could be used to clear some countries’ national debt? Could other people provide a place with better security than the one housing Shwa now?

If it was a place built by someone else, the room would have been blown up by the first attack while I was still running.

And would other people blame themselves like this? Probably not.

No. No matter what he thought, he wasn’t at fault.

But I guessed it was hard for him to accept it because I saw his lips start to move, so I squeezed his face harder. "No!" I put more strength into my voice. "I don’t want you to waste your energy blaming yourself."

Because it wasn’t his fault, and it sure as hell wasn’t mine. I did not feel guilty for trying my best to save my child, and I knew he had tried his utmost best to prepare for everything.

But there were things in this world that we could not predict. We were not perfect, so the things we devised couldn’t be perfect. Even Mother said deities weren’t omniscient and invincible, so who we were, as mortals, smugly thought we could do everything perfectly?

Things got screwed up. We got unlucky. We managed to face it.

That was it. That was all.

So I looked into his eyes, into his soul, into his thoughts that I could feel through our eternal bond. "Rather than blaming yourself, I want you to use that energy to repay those people."

His widened eyes flashed, probably surprised at the malice dripping from my tongue. Even I was surprised by the cold voice coming out of my mouth--I guessed...I still retained the anger and disdain I felt that night.

Didn’t matter. In fact, it was a good thing for me.

"I want you to make sure they understand how fucked they are," I pressed my forehead against him, grasped his head, and spoke under my breath. "I want you to make everyone know what they will get if they decide to mess with us."

I took a deep breath and greeted my teeth. "Make sure no one will ever think of messing with our child."

This time, Natha moved and grasped my head and back in return. "I will," he said. Brief, cold, and filled with conviction. I could feel the room getting colder by his suppressed fury fueled by his fear.

For me though, that cold was more reassuring than anything.

I pulled back slightly, and he chased me with his lips. Ah...immediately, I remembered how much I missed him before everything went down the night before. How much I wished he was there when I ran toward Shwa. Everything came back to me with the touch of his lips, and the anger dominating my heart melted instantly.

Revenge can wait. I crave my husband’s presence for now.

"I should’ve been there," he whispered between the kiss that felt insufficient.

"I don’t think they’ll make a move when you’re here," I whispered back. I might be delirious, but I could still think for myself. The timing just felt really coincidental.

From the little conversation I could hear between those two, it seemed like they only planned to take Shwa--although I wasn’t sure if they really knew what was inside the shed. No matter how crazy or vengeful they were, I didn’t think they would do it in the open. After all, they deliberately covered the forest--I presumed to keep everything a secret. In that case, they must have been waiting for the right time when Natha left the Lord Castle.

He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, which meant he agreed with my assessment. Well, for now, that was all I could think from what I knew, but aside from that, I knew nothing. Even those two...who were they? One of them had a body made of...shadow? And the other one was--

I gasped. Clasping my mouth, I looked at Natha with widened eyes. It was only for a few seconds, but I was sure one of them was a...nightmare.

"Nat, umm...what happened to all the...umm..."

"Later," he said, and then added before I could voice a protest. "Let’s talk while you eat."

Ah, of course. Of course, my priority was to eat.

* * *

"Val!" Zia, who apparently had been staying in the Castle since that night, hugged me tightly. She only let me go when Natha told her off for hindering my breakfast, but stayed on my side, clutching my clothes as if worried the fairies would teleport me away again.

Well, from her whine, I found out that she was the one who alerted everyone about a potential danger. The servants and guards opened the bedroom because Zia was banging on the balcony door aggressively, and that was when they found the bed to be empty.

Starting from Zia, the others filled me with the account of that night one by one; how Angwi immediately went to the vassals’ quarters, how they frantically called Natha but couldn’t get through, how communication was cut from the guards in the forest, and so on.

"A secret tunnel?" my eyes opened wide. A secret passage I hadn’t found?! How preposterous!

"It seemed to be made by the previous Lord, who never said anything about it," Arta replied with palpable loathe in her voice. I pitied the pillow she had been punching on her lap. "Damn petty old shit! They must be in cahoots with those demons, right?"

"Oh, but who are they?" I asked curiously after gulping the warm soup that seemed to be made by Mara’s tears with how swollen her eyes were. "What’s this trace that Aleena was talking about?"

Zia flinched slightly and lowered her head. She fiddled with the edge of my clothes wordlessly for a while, and no one said anything as if waiting for her. Hmm...why?

"It...it was about my...my brother..."

[Fake nightmare!] Jade suddenly stomped its tiny feet on the corner of the breakfast tray.

"Zir’Kal?" I tilted my head. "He was there?"

"He was with the group that used poison against Haikal. The forest--umm, I guess it was you?--threw him out to the lakeside.

"Oh, they were all on the weak side so I just tossed them out. I never realized he was there..."

Arta pressed her lips and finally didn’t look as angry anymore.

"But it’s not just him, right?"

"Yeah, umm..." Zia bit her lips and shook her head in frustration. "It seems like he and some elders were colluding with a Spectre."

My spoon stopped midair when I heard that. Spectre...the race that used to hold the authority in the Realm of Lust? Huh...

"Was it the one with the mask and shadowy thingy?" I asked, but they looked at me in confusion.

"Mask?"

"They do use that kind of power," Natha nodded, guiding my hand back to eat. "But you still trapped them in that thorny cocoon--"

"My Iron Maiden!" I slapped the breakfast tray and laughed as I recalled the shadow’s desperate attempt to wriggle out of that.

Natha, for the first time since I woke up, smiled. "Yes, your Iron...Maiden. The Spectre is still inside."

Oh! So it wasn’t unfurled after my fusion stopped? How nice! I was worried for a second that the masked one somehow got away before I could properly spit on them. I let out a breath of relief and resumed my meal in peace.

"Oh, that one is quite strong," I nodded. "Very angry too, very rude! Very annoying!"

"I agree," Ignis commented from my shoulder. "But I think Valen can take them down easily if he wasn’t so low on mana."

"Thank you for the consolation, Ignis!"

"It’s not a consolation," the bright blue eyes rolled and Ignis shook its head in exasperation.

Whatever. Anyway, I got it then why the masked one seemed to be very temperamental. The Spectre must have harbored a lot of resentment against Natha. "How ridiculous!" I chewed my breakfast angrily. "These people are so ridiculous!"

They should know then what it felt like to be Natha, who got shunned. No--Natha was exiled even though he didn’t do anything, unlike those horrible Spectre that were so power hungry they got scared of a child!

"Eat slowly," Natha stroked my back, but he sounded more relaxed now, so I was glad.

Wait...

"Hmm...but," I looked at Natha carefully. "Why was there...a nightmare among them?"