The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 614: There’s always a reward for filial children

Chapter 614: There’s always a reward for filial children

"May I be left alone with them?"

"Of course," the Bishop agreed with no question. It even almost felt like he was eager to do so, leaving the compound immediately.

A small hand tugged at mine. "Jade too?"

"Of course not, baby," I stroked the green hair and smiled. "You can stay."

Jade grinned and let go of my hand, running toward the low fence surrounding the lot. He stopped and stared at the two graves, made of the same marble used for the church. "But Papa...what is this?"

Oh, right. Jade had never seen a grave before.

It was hard to explain about the graves and who they were to me. I mean...those graves belonged to the parents of this body, but my soul had another set of parents on Earth. On the other hand, Valmeier’s mother and my soul’s father were both Princess Yuralein’s children, so...

Ugh...They were my parents, but also...my aunt and uncle?

See? See why I said it was hard?

I crouched in front of the graves and touched the newer one. "When someone dies, they are usually buried on the ground, Jade."

"Papa too? Jade too?"

Hmm...I had no idea what would happen to an elemental bird after they died, but...

"Yes, us too."

"Then...who is here, Papa?"

"Hmm..." I stared at the tombstone.

There was only one name on each of them: Heralein, who was obviously Grandma’s daughter, and Vashakin, who should be the High Priest. Well...I didn’t know much about them, and even after I knew a little bit, I didn’t feel much bond with them. Still...

"They are very important people to me," I told the little boy.

Yeah; this body wouldn’t be here without them. And at least, it seemed like they did love their child, which I couldn’t say much for my soul’s parents.

"Important people! Okay!" Jade nodded and crouched beside me. After about half a minute of silence, he started to fidget and look at me in confusion. "What are we doing now, Papa?"

Pfft--yeah, what should we do, now?

"Hmm...I’m not sure," I propped my cheeks and tilted my head, which Jade followed in more confusion.

I didn’t have anything to tell them since I didn’t know them personally, so what should I...ah! I took out the map pendant from my storage ring and showed it to the grave as if the father’s soul was attached there.

"This worked well, thank you," I shifted forward, closer to the tombstones. "I’m sorry that he can’t be here, but...he didn’t have any resentment toward the both of you, so don’t worry."

I reached out toward Vashakin’s tombstone, which was plain. It was, of course, what a normal tombstone would look like, but since there was an extravagance beside it, the tombstone couldn’t help but feel bare. A pendant wouldn’t do much, but it was still something. We didn’t need it anymore anyway, and it would only gather dust in my box.

So, I placed the pendant on top of Vashakin’s grave and turned toward the one who actually had a blood relation to my old body. Aunty? Mother? Haa...so complicated. I picked up the figurines on top of the graves and looked at them closer. It looked like realistic animal figurines at first, but there was something about them that felt different...

"Papa, they look like Jade’s friends in the forest!"

"Ah!"

Right--they weren’t your average Human Realm’s animals, but the ones we had on the Realm of Nature. Whoa...was the Princess remembering them from her childhood memory? I guessed...if they could talk about mundane things like animals from another realm, they must have been really close.

At any rate, it was true that they seemed to be in love with each other. That made it better. Whether it was fate, a deity’s order, or an arranged marriage; things would be alright if they had feelings for each other.

"They are cute, right?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm...too bad there’s no rabbits or elemental birds--oh, let’s ask Arta to make some plushies once we get back."

"Let’s!"

Jade giggled and continued to play with the figurines. I told him to be careful and return each one to their respective place as I placed the one I picked up back. As I did, something else caught my eye--a dent on the surface of the marble grave, a rectangle-shaped depression. It was partially covered by the many figurines near the tombstone, so it was hard to realize.

"Is this a dent? A flaw?" I rubbed the small section. "Hmm...looks too clean, though."

Could it be a mistake during the making of this grave? Or was someone damaged it while cleaning the place?

Jade clung to my back and asked curiously. "What is it, Papa?"

"Jade, make some water, and let’s clean the graves!"

"Okay!"

With Jade’s waterball, we started to clean the graves. They were actually rather clean--someone probably tasked to clean them before I came--but we cleaned them even more. We got rid of the flowers and scrubbed the marble with magic, sending the dirt away with earth magic.

"Hmm...as expected, this place is weird, right?" I rubbed the depression again. It looked too clean to be a mistake, and it didn’t seem to be made recently. I didn’t think Vashakin would let the grave be damaged, so it must have been intentional, right?

"Weird!" Jade poked the rectangle hole. "Jade can put a piece of chocolate here!"

"Pfft--you only think about candy," I ruffled the giggling little boy.

"Because Papa taking out that squre thingy! Look like chocolate piece to Jade!"

"Huh?" I followed the little index finger toward Vashakin’s grave. "You mean...the pendant?"

I stared at the rectangle-shaped metal and swiftly turned my gaze toward the shallow hole. "Oh!"

I quickly snatched the pendant and placed it inside the dent. "Oh!"

It was a perfect fit!

"Waa!’ Jade clapped his hand, even though he did not understand what happened.

Unfortunately, nothing happened even after we waited for a whole minute. Hmm...if was too perfect of a fit to be something else thou--

"Ah! Mana!"

Right; the pendant was activated with the priest’s mana! Swiftly, I placed my palm above the pendant and poured my mana there until the grave rumbled.

Ahem--rumbled was probably too strong of a word; let’s just say it vibrated. Mana circuits suddenly glowed from where the pendant was to the whole grave.

"Whoa..."

I was so, so worried that the whole grave would slide open, so I stepped out of the lot while hugging Jade, watching the grave with curiosity. It...it wouldn’t turn into horror and show us some skeleton, right?

And then, after circuits glowed and vibrated for about a minute--click!

"What happen? What happen?" Jade gripped the hand I used to cover his eyes. "Jade wanna see!"

I blinked and lowered my hand, and we tilted our heads, staring at the palm-sized square line appearing around the rectangle hole...keyhole?

We looked at each other and tilted our heads more. "That’s it?"

"That’s it?" Jade pursed his lips. "Jade escitid for no reason..."

"Excited."

"Jade excited for no reason! Hmph!"

I laughed at my own silliness--I mean, the sky had turned dark, and we were in front of two old graves--so it was very much a horror vibe. I wondered what Jade’s reaction would be like if some scary ghosts really came out, though...

But anyway, we returned to the princess’s grave and pressed inside the rectangle line. It clicked and slid inside, revealing a small hollow room at the top of the grave.

"Uhh--it...it’s not connected to the real grave, right?" I peeked inside carefully, and thankfully, it was shallow. There was only one thing inside that hole: a tiny pouch with a strong preservation spell all around its surface. "There’s something?"

Naturally, I should take it out, right? I mean...it opened with the pendant that Vashakin gave Valmeier, and opened with Valmeier’s mana, so...wasn’t it like...his inheritance or something?

It wasn’t grave robbing or anything of the sort, right? Right?

"Pardon me for this," I took a deep breath and checked the content of the pouch.

There was only one thing inside the pouch; small and round, like a children’s marble. The size felt familiar, however, like a...

The content of the pouch rolled into my palm, and my whole body froze. I blinked and stared at the pearl-like thing in the middle of my palm. A bead.

Why? How? Did the Templars know this? What about the Bishop? A lot of questions swirled inside my head--but it’s important right now!

"Oh! Jade know this!"

I gasped. Sharply. Blinking and rubbing my eyes, bringing the bead closer for inspection, and felt the subtle hint of divinity inside. And then, I gasped again.

"Whoa..."

Was this fate? Was the world rewarding me for being a good boy?! I looked at Jade and hugged the surprised little boy, raining kisses on the chubby cheeks before laughing mirthfully.

"Three left!"

Princess Heralein! High Priest Vashakin! This Valen will call you Mother and Father from now on!