The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 540: When you’re married, your spouse has to be your top priority

Chapter 540: When you’re married, your spouse has to be your top priority

I spend my teatime with pastries on one hand and mana transfusion in the other.

We did it in the greenhouse this time, but instead of Natha’s mana, we were experimenting with Amarein’s. She had to go back before dinner, so we couldn’t postpone it until dinner, which was why we had this tea-treatment-farewel tea party.

Once again, Natha started the procedure, and D’Ara closed the baby bird’s eyes during the needle action. Only after the light green mana flowed into my system did Jade get out of its vision jail.

[Oh! Oh! Auntie’s smell like forest!]

"Yeah; it feels like the mana I absorbed when I was in the druid settlement," I nodded.

"So, you don’t have any problem with druid’s mana?" Neel asked; of course, the answer was obvious from my relaxed face, but she still asked for the report--and to stick to the nurse concept.

"Yep! It feels light and...hmm, familiar?" I tapped my chin to ponder. The familiarity did not come from the Great Forest, however. More like...

[Mother!]

"Right! Feels like Mother’s garden!" I snapped my fingers and high-fived Jade’s wings afterward. "Must be because Aunty is the Mother’s proxy!"

"Is that so?" Amarein smiled to her eyes. "Is it comfortable?"

"Yee~s," I leaned back on my plush armchair and let out a long, satisfied sigh before sipping on my tea and biting into my non-mana-rich high-sugar jam pastry.

Haa...after weeks...months? Except for that one time when Natha left for the Realm of Wrath, I hadn’t had these sweet, sweet indulgences for a long time because everything I ate had to be made of mana-rich ingredients which...wasn’t really the best to go creative about.

So it was really, truly a blessing.

Also, everyone was being very generous to me. Mara kept giving me cakes and pastries, which the cooks deliberately made in mini sizes so I could try as much as I could without feeling bloated. If felt like they were celebrating my recovery, and it was fun. There were even several bowls of popcorn, and Jade was having fun diving in a chocolate-flavored one.

I was having a blast...peacefully--as much as I could with cakes and teas--but at the corner of my vision, I saw my dear husband just silently staring at his coffee. Wow...he wasn’t even drinking tea in a tea party. Although he wasn’t frowning, his lips were stiff, and it was...cute.

I swallowed my giggle and stared hard at him so he could feel it. When he snapped his head at me in surprise, I waved my hand to beckon him secretly while the Aunties and Arta were in the middle of a lovely conversation.

He tilted his head for a second but quickly scooted closer. His eyes were quite worried, but he also saw from my face that I was alright, so he was rather confused. Glancing at the others--and making sure Jade was still busy swimming through the popcorn--I pulled Natha closer and whispered so quietly that not even D’Ara could hear it--I hope.

"Nat,"

"Hmm?"

"It’s a secret, but..." I giggled, lips brushing his earlobe. "I like yours more."

He paused for a few seconds, before pulling himself away quickly. His eyes darted to the mana container, and I blinked my eyes in place of a nod.

And then, suddenly, without any warning, the pastry in my mouth was replaced with his lips.

Thank Gods Jade was still swimming inside the popcorn bowl.

* * *

I woke up the next day feeling like all of our worries about lacking mana was a lie. My core was almost full, even though Shwa still absorbing my mana. But the sweet child had been so considerate lately, only taking a reasonable amount of mana as if going on a diet. Thanks to that, I felt like my old self.

Umm, not my old self, but...myself before conceiving? Yeah, like that.

After doing the breathing exercises and having the usual extra healthy mana-rich breakfast, my core was full and I was ready for some smacking.

But not before Natha checked my condition from head to toe, inside and out.

"I’m fi~ne, you silly husband," I squeezed his cheeks to make his face less scary. He was staring so hard at me that people might think he was scolding me. He even let out more cold than usual, which others usually used as an indicator that he was angry.

But no; he was actually letting out his fear and worry.

"I’d rather you call me foolish than have something unwanted happen to you," he spoke sternly--again, not because he was angry, just nervous.

I put my hands on my waist and pursed my lips. "Don’t you see how healthy I am?"

"We don’t have extra mana packs yet, so I won’t be complacent."

Ah, right--the available containers were used for Amarein’s mana yesterday, and the extra containers were still in production. Natha also needed to recover his mana fully first before D’Ara allowed him another transfusion. We also decided that we wouldn’t use another donor unless it was an emergency to prevent unwanted complications, so...until Natha drew his mana again, we had no stash.

But...

"Pfft--" a muffled laugh came out of my mouth, prompting Natha to frown.

"What?"

"Mana-packs...pfft--"

I didn’t know why, but it sounded so funny, and I just couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe because there wasn’t much to laugh about these days, and I felt so healthy and in such a good mood.

Natha exhaled slowly, looking at me like someone who was holding back from messaging his temple. But after a few seconds, he let out a resigned sigh. "Alright, I’m convinced that you’re fine now."

"Heh," I scoffed smugly and patted his shoulder. "Let’s go before Jade returns from training!"

I pretended to not see Natha shook his head in exasperation and skipped through the hallway before he finally took my hand and led me in the opposite direction. Oops.

Well, I never had any business with prisoners before, so this would be my first time going to the Castle’s dungeon. The vassals, perhaps on Natha’s order, never told me about the place at all, so I had no idea where it was.

Until this time.

Natha brought me through the path he took me the first time; the corridor connecting the Lord’s Quarter to the Great Hall. Before we reached the Great Hall, however, Natha opened a heavy-looking door on the wall by activating a spell on its surface which reminded me of a smartphone password--you know, the one we made a pattern by connecting dots.

Behind the door was a stair leading to another corridor, smaller and with no natural light. There were sconces that lit up when we passed through, like those sensor lamps back on Earth. Again, Natha led me through a complicated labyrinth that I would never be able to remember. Hell--I didn’t think I would be able to find my way even with a map.

Either this place had an illusion spell too, or I was just that directionally challenged.

I could still find my way by following the trace of mana though, just that...I wouldn’t know where I would end up with. From Natha’s explanation, the first level of the dungeon had four entry points, including the one we used. The rest of the floor, however, was a maze leading to the real dungeon door where the prison and such were located.

I guessed it made sense that they’d make it as hard as possible for the prisoners to run away.

That being said, there were rarely any prisoners in the Lord Castle. In the first place, law offenders were put in the prison located behind the courthouse. But that was only for regular criminals or those awaiting trials. Criminals doing crimes in the Castle and caught in the Castle, however, had the special opportunity of tasting the Castle’s very own dungeon.

Which lay behind a double door made of metal; looked heavy and almost like a vault rather than a basement.

"Wow..."

I let out a soft exclamation in front of the door. A pair of guards were standing on the outside, informing the people inside of our arrival. The one inside would open the door through some contraption that I reckoned was also activated by magic formation.

"It’s like what I saw in movies and games!" I unconsciously clapped when the big, heavy-looking door started to swing open. But then I saw Natha raising his brow and I gasped. "Oh, wait--I need to put on a serious and menacing face."

Right--get it together, Val! This was a place to detain criminals, so I shouldn’t look like a boy in an amusement park.

"Serious, Valen," I patted my cheeks and fixed my expression while the door opened up some more. I narrowed my eyes and straightened my lips. Think of Grandpa. Think of Grandpa. "Menacing...what should I do to look menacing?"

I turned toward Natha for advice, but what I saw was a demon pressing his lips and turning his head away, eyes closed and shoulder trembling.

I punched his shaking shoulder. Hey! I’m trying to be serious here!

Ugh--how annoying. But thanks to that, I managed to have a serious frown when we reached our destination.

Inside a cell where Opti and Hagai were leaning against, the nightmare I recalled vaguely from that night was tied up with mana restriction chains.

Alright; let’s go for some smacking.