The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 554: I’d like a little teaser for my upcoming movie, please

Chapter 554: I’d like a little teaser for my upcoming movie, please

"Party?"

The last thing I ever thought would come during this time with a war ongoing and enemies abound came out of Natha’s mouth when I visited him in his office--something I hadn’t been doing in a long time.

They were in the middle of some discussion when I popped up, and since Natha let me stay to listen, I asked what they were talking about. The answer was that...they were about to throw a party?

I looked at Natha, blinking in curiosity. "That’s rare..."

"Is it?" Arta laughed while placing a cup of tea and an assorted box of cookies in front of me. "His Lordship always held at least one party every year."

My brows raised. "Really?"

"There’s always the harvest festival banquet, and there’s the wedding party this year," Arta started to list them, putting one cookie for one event on my plate. "Oh, we don’t have the autumn banquet because of the war this year, so there’s that."

Oh, when she put it like that...

"But even excluding the formal realm’s event, His Lordship usually had some kind of soiree or banquet for the merchants and nobles," Lesta added, sneaking a hand to the cookie box only for his twin to swat it with a glare.

"Oh?" I narrowed my eyes at Natha while biting on my cookie. "I didn’t know that..."

All this time, I had thought he hated parties and banquets because of his ability to sense people’s thoughts. But what was this? And why did I only know this now?

Natha, chuckling at my dubious stare, rubbed a cookie crumb off the corner of my mouth while giving me some explanations. "It’s not that I like having them," Natha said. "I just used them as an opportunity to know what those people thought about me."

Oh? My suspicion unraveled.

"Rather than going around waiting for people to show their true colors, I just gathered them in one place and sensed which one had malicious intentions," he stroked my no longer twisted lips. "Are you satisfied with this, my husband?"

Why do you keep flirting outside the bedroom?! I blew his fingers off my mouth, but he just laughed and squeezed my face even more.

It was fortunate that only the siblings and Eruha were here. The other staff would probably had a heart attack seeing him acting like this.

Well, this also showed how much he trusted those four.

"Well, it kind of stopped when you came, Young Master," Lesta explained further. "And most of the guests coming after that were those with a good relationship with His Lordship, since the events were rather personal."

"And His Lordship tightened the security in every event that you attend," Eruha added.

"Oh, okay..." I hid my blushing cheeks behind the steam coming out of the teacup. "But, why now?"

From the look of it--and what I heard--this party would be something that Natha usually held before I came; the one where most of the important people in the whole seven realm would be invited. Their representatives, at least.

If he hadn’t been doing it due to security matters, it wouldn’t make sense why he did it now, when security was the one thing he upheld the most. Even if I did not attend the event, my situation and Shwa’s existence--which that nightmare might already spilled to the higher-ups before the operation--warranted an even higher level of security.

Unless...

I turned to look at his gleaming eyes. "Is it...part of your plan?"

He smiled. "More or less. I just," he lowered his face to my level, and his voice while at it, "...want to give them a show."

"A show?"

"You’ll find out," he pulled back and winked.

Ugh--this no-spoiler policy! I pursed my lips and munched the cookie aggressively. Arta was having fun recommending different types of cookies because of that--apparently, they were new products--while Natha continued his party committee meeting.

"Should we have it before or after the New Year?" Malta asked over her small but thick notebook.

"After," Natha tapped on his knee in contemplation. "Let’s not taint people’s memory before the worship. It would be unethical to do it during the Sacred Night."

Taint people’s memory? What kind of stuff were you trying to do that might ’taint’ people’s memory? And tainted them with...what?

For all I knew, walking around during the dark Sacred Night was not recommended and was frowned upon, but it wouldn’t warrant any punishment--just a warning. Doing a crime, however, would grant the perpetrator a stamp of banishment.

Very unethical, yes, to commit crimes during the holy night. But did this mean they were going to commit some crimes? In the party where representatives from seven realms were invited to?

Why was this conversation getting scarier?

"Hmm...can’t we do the half part before the Sacred Night?" Eruha tilted his head slightly. The red eyes of the vampire narrowed in a way that made me think he was going to suck the guests’ blood even though he had an Eternal. "We are allowed to punish the exiled anyway."

"Of course, we can," Natha smiled. It was that smile and that gaze I saw on the research floor. "There’s nothing we need to get from them anymore anyway."

"...what exactly are you trying to do?" I finally braved myself to ask.

Again, Natha replied mysteriously with a wink. "Something that is not safe for children’s consumption."

"...okay?"

My Lord, saying such kind of thing with a wink would just propel my brain to think in a different direction, you know...Something that was also not safe for children’s consumption.

Ahem.

"Actually, announcing it in the first Sacred Morning should be fine," Lesta snapped his fingers.

"Ah, since children are not allowed to be out the whole day!" Arta clasped her hands and nodded.

Apparently, it was a tradition that a day before the New Year, the mini-demons had to stay inside so they wouldn’t get corrupted by the filth of the world. The last day of the year, based on the lore, was a day when Lord An’Hyang chased away the filth and cleansed the world with the help of the adult demons.

In other words, the adults were tasked with cleaning the city--literally--to prepare for the worship on the first morning of the year.

Honestly? They probably locked the children inside so they wouldn’t litter and waste the adults’ communal work.

But what the hell?! What were you going to announce?!

Agh--I was so curious! It was like being invited to the behind-the-scenes of a movie without being shown the script. I kind of knew the plot, but I didn’t even know the entirety of the cast, or what kind of scenes they wanted to shoot.

I didn’t even give the teaser!

"Yes, let’s do it like that."

Like what?!

"Are you okay, Young Master?" Arta asked with a giggle.

"No," I pursed my lips. "I’m frustrated."

"Oh, but you know very well how delicious it is when you wait for something," Natha chuckled.

Tsk. Stop saying something right. Say something I could make fun of for a change!

"What are you going to do if it’s not taste delicious in the end?" I pouted.

"Then you might punish me," he smiled.

Oh?

"...I think that’s more like a reward for you, Your Lordship," Lesta said, and my brow arched at the sight of my husband’s lips stretching wider.

* * *

While some kind of show was brewing behind the scenes somewhere I couldn’t see, the end of the year was coming closer. Natha had sent the lust demons back to be trialed, and the first letter from Zia came.

The moment Panne showed me a thick envelope with Zia’s cute signature filling the entire side of the envelope, I snatched it and ran to look for Jade. I borrowed my little bird and D’Ara gave us an hour, so we ran to the shed afterward because why not do it with Shwa too?

We giggled and plopped down in front of the pretty flower who danced cutely to welcome us, and I opened the envelope.

The letter was long--several pages long--but we read it carefully anyway. The first page was filled with whining and cursing--which I had to censor heavily--about her hometown. As expected, the members of the Ra clan were flabbergasted, and the elders were dumbfounded. Zia had to pull up some acting to appear dignified and fierce, which she said she did by pretending to be a character from her novel.

Neat.

I had to say she was being very brave, holding on against the skepticism. Izzi was yet to be there because he split in the middle of the journey to go back to his family for a bit. He was already on his way back to Lust, however, by the time Zia had written this. Hmm...then he should be arriving now, right? I would so clunk him in the head if he missed Zia’s succession.

Also, he had to record the whole procession for me to see it later, so he’d catch my hand and Jade’s wings if he failed to do so, hmph!

Anyway, she told me the succession would be held in the New Year as planned, and the trial for her brother and the other incubi would be done the day after.

Hmm...I wondered if that was why Eruha was thinking about punishing the ones already in our hands before the New Year...

If those demons received harsh punishment, the other lust demons wouldn’t be able to protest about whatever punishment Zia would give as long as it wasn’t as bad as the ones the rest of the perpetrators got.

And well, seeing that they actually received the death penalty to varying degrees, you couldn’t really go much lower.

As I wondered curiously about the notorious show, the teaser came out on the first morning of the Sacred Days.

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