The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 569: And thus the Flower blooms

Chapter 569: And thus the Flower blooms

When the agonizing scream stopped and was replaced by a choking sound, they instantly knew something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

"Young Master!"

"Valen?" Amarein reached out her trembling hands, but stopped in dread as Valen’s back arched and his body seized. His head stretched back, neck tensed and swollen, as if something was shoved inside his throat. "La-Lady D’Ara!"

"He can’t breathe," the vampire frowned as she held Valen carefully. "Sweetling..."

"My Lady, I don’t think the transfusion can keep up!"

D’Ara clenched her jaw--she knew; she had seen the rapid decrease of Valen’s mana. The flow was so chaotic that it blocked the gates, even hindering the airways. She had to do something, or the sweetling might lose his life. Something that could stabilize the flow of mana and fill the core all at once.

Her gaze fell to the box on the bedside table that her disciple gave her earlier. She put Valen down and took the box. "Sweetling, I’m going to use this."

Opening the box, D’Ara took out a blood-red pill and put it inside Valen’s gasping mouth. She moved her fingers, glowing in soft mana, along Valen’s chin and swollen neck. Following the fingers’ movement, the pill rolled inside Valen’s mouth and down, struggling and pushing through the blockade in his throat. With the help of the vampire’s mana, the pill managed to slip through and enter the lump of energy in Valen’s solar plexus.

There, it dissolved and took over.

"Ugh!!" Valen gasped as his airway was forcibly opened with a blast of energy.

On the other hand, the massive energy accumulated from decades of fermentation spread all over his body, filling the barren circuits with raw unprocessed mana. The core that had to accept the foreign energy jolted, and Valen seized again. Screaming again.

"Nggh!"

"Hang in there, sweetling," D’Ara pressed her palm against Valen’s stomach, guiding the rampaging mana inside, that was fighting between channeling some volume outside and keeping Valen’s alive. "You can do it."

Amid Valen’s painful scream, an anguished wail could be heard from below. A little boy shrieked with so much sorrow that the person holding him could do nothing but hold him tight so he wouldn’t fall down or run upstairs.

Jade, who could clearly sense the dire condition of his father screamed in fear, in despair, clinging to the poor demon patting him patiently. But no amount of soothing whisper could calm the boy who could feel his father’s writhing and ripping soul. All he could do was wail and scream in misery of the pain he could not feel.

Natha would have screamed too had he the chance. The bond was telling him that his beloved was dying, and there was nothing he wanted more in this world than to hold his sweetheart at that moment. But he stumbled inside the shed with tears dripping from his shaken eyes, staggering toward the tensing flower.

Betraying his stature, Natha fell on the wildly swaying grass. As he tried to get up, his eyes fell to the pulsing mark on his finger; the bond between him and his sweetheart. And suddenly, something occurred to him;

If Valen died, he died. So what was there to be afraid of? It would be a pitiful situation for their child, but thinking that he would jump into nothingness together with his beloved calmed him down.

"Haa...Haa..." he regulated his breath as he crawled toward the shuddering flower, wiping the tears wetting his cheeks. "Baby..."

The garden was a chaotic mess of swirling mana storm centered at the lone flower screaming silently. Natha held the flower, embracing it, flowing his own mana to help the little, confused one.

"Baby, your Papa is having a hard time," he whispered softly, sorrowfully. Even if he thought it would be alright to die, he wanted his sweetheart, who hadn’t even enjoyed two years of healthy life, to continue living for a long, long time. "Please, please..."

He held the trembling bud and poured his mana into the tangled mess of mana, forcefully trying to smoothen the flow.

"Let’s not make it hard for your Papa, yeah?"

He pressed his head on the petals, who seemed to be hugging him back anxiously. Ah...this was why Valen told him to be here.

"Is it hard for you, baby? I’m here, I’m here," Natha stroked the flower, enveloping it in his mana. "I’ll help you, alright? I’ll help you, so let’s do this gently."

Gradually, the tangled mess of mana unraveled as he infused more and more mana. The mana the flower absorbed also flew more steadily, and Natha could feel his mark throbbed less intensely than before. The flower, gathering all the mana inside it, tensed up.

"You can do it, baby," Natha whispered soothingly, trying to keep his child as calm as possible. "Our smart baby..."

With both mana and praise pouring into the flower, the petal swayed and bent upward toward the center, as if shielding the bud. The flow of mana suddenly stopped and Natha pulled his hand away, holding his breath as the flower shuddered and tensed.

It stopped moving for a few seconds that felt like hours for Natha, before a burst of energy exploded. The petals trembled for a second more, before falling to the side one by one.

And there, in the middle of it all, wriggling defenselessly, was a vulnerable figure of a baby.

"Uu..."

"...ah..." slowly, fearfully, Natha reached out for the vulnerable curling figure in the middle of the petals.

More beautiful than any flower.

"Uu...uu...waaaaah!"

A heartful cry pierced the garden, and every blossom in the realm bloomed, welcoming the little flower to the world.

* * *

It was dark.

A familiar darkness, and I was running along an invisible path. I ran and ran and ran, excitedly looking for the cocoon that was always there. But no matter how long I ran and how frantic I was searching for it, I couldn’t find the cocoon. My cocoon.

As dread and despair started to overcome me, I opened my eyes with a sharp gasp.

"Shwa!"

As if I had been deprived of air my whole life, my body suck on it eagerly. Staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, I gradually registered the presence of other people around me.

"Valen!"

"Young Master!"

Did I lose consciousness? How long had it been?

"Are you okay, sweetling?"

I turned toward the soft voice of D’Ara, who looked at me with unusually soft gaze. "I’m...yes..."

"I used Sada’s pill," she said with a calm tone. Why was she so calm? "I’ll give you one of mine late--"

"Shwa!" my brain finally caught up with what happened and grabbed her arm. "What about Shwa?!"

At my impolite and impatient gesture, D’Ara smiled and held my chin, gently turning my face toward the window, and there I saw--blossoms. Blossoming flowers swaying in the wind. From the bush flanking the path to the orchards on the back. The road was decorated with blooming flowers, and the air was sparkling with fluttering petals, bathed in the golden light of dusk.

The world, which looked dim before, suddenly brightened as if they were cheering up. As if the most wonderful thing had emerged. As if the world was alive once more.

Oh...

Like the petals outside, my heart was fluttering. When I let my senses kick in, I could feel it, clearly, the approaching presence. Two of them.

As if answering the summon of my crying heart, black feathers swirled inside the room before parting slowly like a glistening curtain. Before the wings disappeared fully, I could see it already;

A little bundle lying protected in Natha’s arms.

"Shwa--"

I scrambled forward before Natha even made a step, but D’Ara held me back and whispered soothingly. "Shush, sweetling; they’ll come to you."

As Natha stepped closer to the bed, to me, his footsteps sounded so loud in my ears. I didn’t think I even breathed or blinked, just staring at the small thing bundled in a blanket and Natha’s coat. When Natha arrived in front of the bed, my arms reached out before my brain could give any command, and my breath stuttered the moment the little bundle arrived in my arms.

"Oh..."

The bundle wriggled, and the blanket shifted. Fair and frail, a baby curled while breathing calmly. Dark hair crowned his little head, and faint blue markings decorated his skin. Ah...it’s a baby boy.

"Oh..." I opened my mouth, but nothing could come out but an exclaim. All I could think about was how beautiful he looked. My baby.

Our baby.

I raised my head to look at Natha, and it was only then did I realized how red his eyes were. So he had been crying, just like me. But underneath those red and swollen eyes was the brightest smile I had ever seen from him.

With arms wrapped around us, his lips whispered against my temple. "Thank you," he closed his eyes and kissed me tenderly. His voice, trembling like our heart, contained an unspeakable love that transcended everything. "Thank you."