The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 555: Loyalty doesn’t mean you’re agree with everything

Chapter 555: Loyalty doesn’t mean you’re agree with everything

During the first Sacred Morning, as the children enjoyed their holiday inside the house, the adults of L’Anaak Eed came out with their cleaning tools and gathered at their district’s rally point. For those who lived in the central district, they gathered at the plaza in front of the courthouse.

They met with their neighbors on the way and talked this and that about their lives and what they were going to do for the holiday after the New Year’s worship, grumbling and laughing with light steps.

But those voices immediately died down at the scene that greeted them in the plaza.

To be exact, in front of the courthouse.

There, beneath the stairs leading to the courthouse, were at least a dozen sharp poles. No one knew for sure how many they were because their brain stopped functioning. Their eyes shook as they followed the poles and saw what was pierced on top of them.

Bodies. Half-bodies. Some were nothing but heads.

Snow had piled during the Sacred Night, and the white bed had turned dark red and purple from the dripping blood. Even if they averted their eyes from the scenery above, the stained snow was enough as a reminder of the savagery above.

Their body was frozen under the immense shock and dread coursing through their body. What is this? What is this brutal execution happening on a holy day?

They clasped their parted mouth, letting out a choked gasp filled with petrifying confusion. At that moment, when enough people had filled the plaza, someone walked down from the courthouse and stopped in the middle, clasping his hands and turning the frozen citizens’ focus on him.

"Rejoice," the Lord’s vassals addressed the stunned and scared citizens with a smile. "His Lordship had caught these blasphemous exiled infiltrating the Castle and punished them!"

Hearing the word ’exiled’, the citizens finally realized the brand in those demons’ foreheads. It didn’t look new either, so it seemed like they had been branded in the past. Someone gasped and whispered to the demons around them that some of those demons looked like the notorious poison-users that plagued the demon realms all those years ago.

From this, the news spread and the whispers turned louder and louder. The citizens, who were aghast before, started to become angry at the punished exiled. Sounds of agreement could be heard, which soon shifted into cheers.

"Let this be a reminder!" the vassal continued. "That no one shall dirty our Matsa L’Anaak!"

The cheers became louder as various cleaning tools lifted high in the air. News traveled from mouth to mouth the whole day, even after the corpses of the exiled were cleared up later in the afternoon. By then, almost every adult had seen the vicious sight, and those who hadn’t had heard it from someone else. It became a headline for the evening newspaper, which usually only filled with the news regarding the New Year worship and banquet during the Sacred Days.

And that was how I found out what happened; by reading it from the evening post.

"Wow," I blinked as I reached the last narrative. "Are they writing a novel instead of an article?"

"Evening posts are like that," Natha chuckled. I caught the silver eyes chasing my face, blinking slowly as if waiting for my reaction.

I looked at the news again--to make it safe, there was a ban on using any pictures depicting the scene, so I didn’t really have any real visual on how those prisoners were presented. All but the Spectre, which was still in Angwi’s hand.

Perhaps that was why, it did not shock me much. I already knew they wanted to make a show, and Natha already mentioned ’execution’ during the first snow. But yeah...it was still brutal. That being said...

My heart was beating fast, although I wasn’t sure because of what. Was I scared? Did I think it was too much? No--the corner of my lips twitched, and I was trying hard to hide it.

Hiding how happy I was.

I wasn’t sure why I was happy. Because the people who attacked me met a vicious end? Or was it because I felt good by how much Natha was milking this execution because of what I said to him that day?

I want you to make sure people will never think of harming us again

Oh, my heart was fluttering.

But I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing; feeling happy because of the world’s savagery. It wasn’t the kind of response I wanted to foster, but living in this kind of world and having this kind of position that warranted a bunch of enemies to come after me...such a level of fierceness was needed, wasn’t it?

But what if--what if I embraced this kind of feeling too eagerly and turned into a vicious person who only ever saw brutal violence as an answer?

I leaned back and let out a conflicting sigh.

"What’s wrong?" Natha sounded alarmed. He held my hand and looked at my face keenly. "Are you feeling ill? Did you hate what I did?"

Oh, this husband of mine was getting sweeter and cuter every day.

"No, it’s just..." I looked around, and the remaining servants in the living room, like the very trained professionals that they were, retreated from the room.

With no one around, I proceeded to tell Natha what I felt earlier; what my thoughts were, and what I feared would come out of them. He listened keenly and smiled in the end.

"Good," he said, which got me confused. "The fact that you still thinking about it means you haven’t strayed."

"But what if I do in the future?"

"Sweetheart, you said it yourself; that kind of fierceness is needed in this kind of world. No, it’s actually also needed in your previous world--isn’t that what your family did, anyway?"

"But that’s why I’m scared," I bit my lips and gripped his hand tightly. "It’s in my blood."

The smile did not leave his lips as he pulled me closer to him. "Sweetheart, do you think I’m a savage for doing all of that?"

"N-no! But--"

"If you’re talking about blood, what about me? I’m part of a race who feast on others’ fear," he lifted my chin so I could stare into his softly glowing pair of moonlight. "I did a lot of cruel things to my enemies, but you don’t think I’m a savage?"

"Well..." I paused, looking away from his face to make sure my assessment wasn’t influenced by his beauty. "You’re only doing that to your enemies," I said after thinking about it. "You’re very good to your own people, otherwise, those seven wouldn’t be this loyal to you..."

I waited for him to respond, but he did not say anything even after half a minute had passed, so I looked up to see he was smiling calmly. "What?"

"That--what you said," he flicked my nose gently. "You can just do that too."

"Huh?"

"Being vicious to your enemies, and good to your friends," he said. "Wasn’t your grandfather good to his loyal subordinates? I presumed he was good to you too, since you seemed to love him very much."

...oh. That’s right, isn’t it?

I blinked slowly as the knot in the pit of my stomach started to unravel. "So...you think it’ll be alright?"

"Well, If I had to be honest, even I wasn’t sure if I could control myself in the past," Natha chuckled. There was a bitterness in it which I knew came from the fact that he truly lost control in the war.

But...he looked very composed most of the time. If I recall, he only lost it during the night Zir’Kal made that disgusting move on me. Was it because he was older now? More experienced with life?

He smiled and cupped my pondering face. "It’s not that I managed to control it by myself--sure, I tried my best for that. But there’s always a part of me that is afraid I might lose it one day," he smiled weakly, and I remembered him telling me he had a contingency plan for Angwi to take me away to safety if he somehow lost his mind.

Oh, perhaps...

"If I have doubt about controlling myself, then...I just need to have other people looking out for me," he shrugged. "Be it subordinates, friends, teacher..." he paused and looked at me, smiling, "...or a very pretty husband."

How could you flirt in this kind of mood?! I pinched him and he laughed, kissing my pursing lips briefly.

"Do you understand now?" he raised his brow, and I pressed my lips as I felt embarrassed.

Alright--so he said that I wasn’t alone anymore and that there were a lot of people who would help me get back to the right path if I strayed, right?

I nodded in agreement, but I didn’t quite agree with the other one. "Nat, I don’t think I can do anything if you lose control, though..."

The thought of hurting him was...

"What are you talking about?" Natha tilted his head. "You’ve done it before."

Huh? My eyes narrowed. He didn’t think about his ’rut’, right?

"Didn’t you scold me heavily when I was drowning in self-hatred and guilt?" he smiled wryly, perhaps feeling pathetic when he recalled that moment. "Thanks to that, I managed to stay calm instead of killing everyone right away after you wake up."

"...really?"

"Yes, so..." he held my head softly and pressed his forehead against mine. "Don’t hesitate to do that again anytime--don’t hesitate to tell me if I’m doing too much."

I held his hands and, as if reassuring myself that he would do the same for me, I nodded. "Okay."

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