The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 565: Is there such a thing like ’sugar aunty’?

Chapter 565: Is there such a thing like ’sugar aunty’?

"Valen!"

Three days after Heraz gave us the news that the Hero and his companions had finished their mission, two disguised humans arrived in the Lord Castle. Wearing cloaks and earrings that made them look like your regular demons.

The moment they saw me, however, they threw their cloak aside and basically jumped at me with enough excitement to fill the many months we hadn’t seen each other. Was it eight months? Wow, how time flew...

And they exuded the kind of energy someone coming back from a vacation would have--instead of a mission.

"Valen--oh, my Goddess...what is this?" Aina only had her attention on me for one second before shifting to the device connecting to me. They arrived right when I had my transfusion--which we decided I would have every time my mana fell below fifty percent--and so I had to receive them while having my mana filled in the living room.

Naturally, my little inventor friend immediately gasped and looked at the device with wide, round eyes. "Transfusion? Blo--mana? Mana transfusion?"

Meanwhile, my old partner in hospital-ward-runaway squeezed my cheeks first thing. "Valen, my hunny bunny!" Zarfa tilted her head and frowned slightly. "Are you alright? You look a bit pale..."

"I’m fine, my mana is rather low, that’s all."

"Oh, I thought you were forgetting your skincare routine or something," she let out a relieved sigh while pinching my cheeks as if testing their elasticity.

Wow, talk about priority. "...I never used skincare."

"Fuck you and your druid gene."

"Teehee~"

"Hey, hey, what is this? What is this?" Aina shook my shoulder and pointed at the container. "Who made this? Izzi? Where is Izzi? How does this work?"

"Izzi’s in his girlfriend’s homeland," I gave them a wink.

Zarfa finally let me go and clasped her own cheeks. "Kyaaah--what is this? That loser finally confessed?"

"Homeland? Suddenly going that far?" Aina gasped and slapped my armrest. "I smell a tea. Drop the tea!"

"Umm..."

Panne, who had a tray of tea for my human guest, and was about to serve it, paused and blinked in confusion, unsure of what to do.

"Oh, not that kind of tea, Panne," I laughed and waved my hand at my poor valet. "Please just serve them as usual."

"Understood, Young Master."

The tea was then served and spilled as we giggle-gaggled through eight months of absence. Naturally, to talk about how Zia and Izzi ended up in the Realm of Lust required the whole saga of that midnight attack, which got the living room filled with Zarfa’s incredible directory of curses in many languages.

Thankfully, Natha already closed Jade’s ears. Phew.

But then, we talked about Zia becoming the clan’s matriarch and the two of them were yelling girl power and whatnot, and somehow, we ended up speculating wildly about why Izzi made a detour to Elvendom and whether or not we would have another big event sometime soon.

I was feeling rather sorry for Jade, who could only blankly watch the three of us conversing and whispering from Natha’s lap. But I hadn’t seen them for a long time and there were so many stories happening on my side and their side that we couldn’t help but ignore everything else around us.

"A storm? A hurricane?" Lesta, who was popping in for some tea amidst his busy schedule, stroked his chin while watching us.

"I can definitely tell they are Young Master’s friends," Arta laughed.

"Of course! I’ve been Valen’s best friend for a long, long time," Zarfa patted her chest proudly. What were you so proud of, though? "I was so close to him that the Doc...that nightmare over there got jealous, thinking I was his ’girlfriend’."

Pfft--that?

Natha narrowed his eyes. "Is this how you paid back for the portal I made, Cecilia?"

"Well, of course," she smirked, finally taking a short break from talking by sipping on the already lukewarm tea. "I’m airing your dark history so you can enjoy your day without it burdening you."

"I should close the portal from now on."

Zarfa wiggled her fingers fearlessly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk--Valen doesn’t like a petty person, Doc."

"He loves me in any way."

"Sure, but he can lose a bit of affection~"

I clapped my hands loudly before the lighthearted jest turned into a sour fight. "Alright, alright--let’s not argue when we’re just seeing each other after a long time."

"That’s right!" again, Aina slammed the armrest--of her own chair this time. "You still haven’t told me about this!"

She pointed at the mana container again, and her glaring eyes told me she would throw some tantrum if she did not get any answer this time. These inventors were scary regarding this kind of thing.

"Ah, so..."

With Natha’s help, we explained the whole thing about this mana transfusion. It was so much easier explaining it to people who already knew the concept of blood transfusion, so it didn’t take long before they were exclaiming loudly.

"Oh, my Goddess!" Aina clasped her cheeks excitedly. "Can we bring it over?"

"Of course not," Natha scoffed.

"You said it wrong, Aina," Zarfa wiggled her finger again, before clearing her throat and using her low, negotiation tone. "Can we buy the usage and distribution permit?"

"Now you’re talking my language."

I rolled my eyes at the familiar sight. "Ugh, stop talking about business every time you meet."

"This is our friendship language, Val!"

"More or less," Natha shrugged.

Again, I rolled my eyes. Natha chuckled and Zarfa giggled in response, which meant they did it deliberately to tease me. Hmph.

Zarfa laughed at my pursed lips and clasped her hands. "Oh, before I forget!"

Suddenly, Zarfa took out a purse from her storage ring, and from that purse, she started taking out parcel upon parcel, piling it on the couch. "Tadaaa!"

"What..."

I blinked at the parcels and gift boxes piling up until they were as tall as Jade.

"You can’t possibly think I’ll visit you without any gift, right?" Zarfa threw her hair like a fabulous aunt and narrowed her eyes.

"I know, but..." I looked at all the gifts that were probably in the dozen already. "That’s...a lot."

Weren’t people usually only bringing one or two gifts when they were visiting? Stuff like fruits or cookies, or a box of baby stuff for those who were expecting.

Zarfa scoffed and patted the piles of gifts. "Well, I have gifts for Jade."

Jade, who had been staying quiet while eating jellies with Lesta like a good boy, perked up and jumped to his feet. "For Jade?" Zarfa nodded and gestured at the whole pile instead of just one of the boxes. "For Jade!"

"And for you," she continued while taking out even more boxes.

"For Papa!"

"And of course!" she exclaimed loudly, taking out more parcels and bags, and even more parcels and bags. "For my nephew!" her hands did not stop taking out stuff--some couldn’t even be wrapped. "Or niece!" and more stuff still coming out as if that purse was bottomless. "I don’t know what the gender will be, or if there will be any at all, so I just brought everything I could think about, hahaha!"

I could only blink when the parcels, gift boxes, and shopping bags were no longer only filled the couch, but also the floor around her. It reminded me of the time I received my wedding gifts, only...this much came from one person.

How many were there? Big ones, medium ones, lots of small ones...I had a feeling it might be close to a hundred. Weren’t they just coming back from the accursed kingdom several days ago? When did she have the time to even shop for this? Not to mention wrapping them!

"Ah~I had so much fun going around shopping for them," Zarfa wiped her forehead before looking around in satisfaction.

"As expected of a Goldbell," Natha nodded; the wealthiest person in the whole Demon Realm did not even look unfazed.

"Ceci..."

"What’s with that face?" Zarfa laughed and squeezed my face, who must have been making a touched expression. "I have to do this much for you and the little ones. I’m sorry I can only visit you now, even though you’ve been having a hard time."

I bit my lips and hugged her with my free arm. "Thank you, Auntie."

"Aww~I’m an auntie now!" she swayed and giggled, looking as giddy as I did.

Jade, who was staring at his gifts and looked like he was tempted to open one, let go and approached Zarfa instead. "Ceci, Ceci, Jade also thank you!"

"Aww~look at my grown-up nephew!" she laughed and squeezed Jade’s cheeks, before turning toward Aina. "You’re not done yet?"

Only then did I realize Aina had been quietly assembling something on the side. In fact, no one realized it because of Zarfa’s gift shower.

"Just a bit more--this part to this and then...voila!" Aina jumped and revealed the item she had been assembling quietly in the middle of the living room.

I blinked my widened eyes and parted my lips. Even Natha was surprised. We stared at the familiar frame that I knew was yet to be made in this world.

"This is my gift to you! Oh, I guess it’s a gift to the baby, more like," she laughed while pushing the item to my side. It rolled smoothly and looked as wonderful as the bassinet.

A baby carriage.

Ah...what should I do? I felt like crying tears of joy.