The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 85: Being a Demon Lord’s proud partner means you need to have a mean strut

Chapter 85: Being a Demon Lord’s proud partner means you need to have a mean strut

With the way our conversation went, we naturally headed to the library. It was in a rather central part of the castle, so we had to go through a busy corridor for it, unlike the time Natha took me to the garden.

I already knew I would have to go through other demons today, and had prepared myself for that. But being rarely in a work-related environment, I underestimated the amount of traffic after breakfast. It was when workers moved about, sending documents and preparing for public services, so there were a lot of them.

The path from Natha’s private quarters was generally empty, saved for the servants, since no one would casually walk around the Lord’s living space just like that. But after climbing down the stairs, and reaching the sections where the realm’s administrators—or, to put it simply, the government officials—worked, the number of demons in sight was increasing.

And while I was desperately praying for them to just keep being busy and not realizing my presence...they certainly did. Being flanked by two of the Lord’s vassals was definitely bringing attention, not to mention two of the Lord’s personal guards.

And of course, there was me being...well, human.

The first group of demons was actually intended to greet Lesta and Eruha at first, before their eyes caught my presence. And just like the first time I came here, just like how the vassals were, they froze; eyes wide and shaking, as if they were scared of something.

Was...my—I mean, Valmeier’s—reputation as a demon slaughterer still prevailed? I swallowed a sigh and just trying not to meet their eyes. I shifted my body a bit, and took a half-step back so I was a bit hidden behind Lesta and Eruha.

It seemed like Lesta saw my awkward expression, because he immediately cleared his throat and the frozen officials snapped back. They stepped out of the path with a stutter and a deep bow and I just felt even more awkward and embarrassed than before.

"Young Master," Eruha stepped back and leaned down to whisper closely. "You are His Lordship’s proud bride, aren’t you?"

I blinked at his words and swallowed hard. Yeah, I shouldn’t back down and hid myself just because the first group that saw me froze at my presence, right? We were doing this so I could get used to it, anyway, so I couldn’t act like a coward now.

So I took a deep breath and remember what my grandpa taught me in my past life. I lifted my face and looked ahead, straightened my back, and relaxed my shoulder.

—you are my grandson, kid, no one will dare to mess with you. Be confident, but don’t get it to your head.

It’s okay, no one here could hurt me. You are the Lord’s partner, Val, no one would say anything or hurt you. Even if you trip and fall and stutter, they would reply to you politely, so just relax and enjoy your morning stroll.

My gaze and expression must have turned better because Eruha smiled wider and gave me a nod. "Yes, just like that."

So the journey that was a bit halted resumed. Because the earlier case, the other demons that were walking about stopped to move aside and gave way to us. Most of them bent their waist to bow as we walked past, probably because Lesta and Eruha were there. They kept their eyes on the ground, but I could feel their stare from behind once we walked past.

That was not too bad, I found that I didn’t feel so dejected if I didn’t see their scared gaze directly.

Why would they be scared of me though? Even if Valmeier was known as a demon slaughterer, I was literally in a demon castle. Even if somehow I went berserk because Valmeier’s leftover ego resurrected, they should be able to easily subdue me with numbers.

While I was musing about this, Lesta looked at me and asked suddenly. "Something wrong, Young Master?"

I was hesitant for a bit, but when we turn into a corridor with no one in sight, I dared myself to ask about it. "Umm...sorry if I was wrong, but...why did I feel like everyone’s scared of me?"

Lesta stiffened for a split second, before his calm smile came back as if nothing happened. "Why do you think that, Young Master?"

"Well...it’s just a feeling, but...they seemed to be shaking a bit when they see me," I replied with a little shrug.

Of course, I only associate it with fear because they looked like how my grandpa’s subordinates acted when Grandpa was angry. I could be wrong though.

"Was that not it?" I looked at the two of them.

"Don’t worry about it, Young Master," it was Eruha who responded. "In the demon realm, fear equals respect. Being feared is a perfectly good thing."

Was that so? Wow, then a Nightmare like Natha must have garnered a lot of respect. That response only made it certain that they were scared of me, however, which I didn’t particularly like. "But...why?"

"Why?" Eruha tilted his head, seemingly confused at my question.

"Why do they scared of me? Is it because I..." thinking about using Valmeier’s title, as usual, made my gut churn slightly. "Because I used to be called a demon slaughterer?" I continued carefully.

To my surprise, Lesta and Eruha gave a rather lukewarm reaction.

"Ah, well...to be honest, we didn’t really care about that," Eruha chuckled slightly with his reply.

Lesta nodded and added to that statement. "Yeah, if you think about it, His Lordship killed more demons than any human heroes throughout his life," he even laughed while saying it.

"True," Eruha gave his agreement, and it surprised me even more.

He did? I mean, I knew Natha was involved in a war and whatnot, and also seemed to have adventurer lives, ruin diving, and tomb pillaging activities during his youth. But killing more than a hero in a war?

What were you up to during your ninety-something life, my Lord?

"Then why?" I asked in even more confusion. If they weren’t feared me because of Valmeier’s image, then why would they feel scared for a little human like me?

Eruha seemed to be taken aback by my confusion though. "Why...it’s obviously because of your power, Young Master."

"Huh?" I tilted my head, slowing down in my step because of my further confusion. "But...my mana circuits haven’t fully healed though?"

I mean...what power did someone like me, who was still recuperating, might possess exactly?

"...excuse me?" this time, it was Lesta who seemed to be surprised.

"Oh, you didn’t know about my condition?" I turned to look at him.

Lesta shook his head slightly, but his face still looked confused, the usual smile gone from his lips. "No, I did. But I thought His Lordship already healed you, Young Master?"

"Mm, he opened the blocked circuits, but we only got like...two third of the way through so far," I explained my condition, before falling into thought suddenly.

Wait...did I talk too much? Perhaps I shouldn’t just reveal something like that to other demons? Ugh—I was truly weak to people acting friendly toward me...

"Ahem—I see," Lesta nodded now, the smile back on his face, although it looked rather awkward somehow. It might be my imagination though. "You seem to be fine, Young Master, so I never thought..."

"Oh, I’m fine. I don’t feel pain anymore so all is good," I replied with a smile. I didn’t really care for the rest of the power-up effect, everything aside from being able to live normally without pain was a bonus for me.

Eruha tilted his head as he observed me from his tall eye level. "Was a blocked circuit...supposed to be painful?" he asked, and immediately added, perhaps because he thought I would feel offended by that question. "Ah, I only asked because this other demon that I knew didn’t seem to be in pain, just—"

"Mm, I get it," I nodded at him to reassure the demon that I wasn’t offended. It was a common perception anyway, since Natha also thought like this the first time I asked him for the Amrita. "It’s because I’m a half-druid, so having my mana blocked is like having an aneurysm all over my body."

I tried to explain, but stupidly used a word that this world didn’t use.

"...aneu—what?" Lesta frowned in confusion.

"Oh, I mean it feels like your blood vessels getting blocked," I corrected the phrase and just gave a simple explanation instead.

Eruha raised his brow as he replied in surprise, eyes widened for a bit. "Isn’t that deadly?"

"Yes," I nodded in confirmation, and then my lips stretched into a smile by themselves, just like that. "I’ll die if Natha didn’t help me."

Talking about this made me remember how much I owed him for my life, and how foolish I was for feeling apprehensive about his deal. Looking at the brand and the ring in my hand, I couldn’t help but miss Natha, even though we parted only an hour ago.

But then I remembered that I was in the company of four other demons, not to mention the ones walking by to their destination. So I pressed my lips and hoped that I wasn’t blushing or anything.

"Umm, so anyway...yeah, I’m healed. Just that my circuits aren’t in their best condition yet," I concluded with an awkward smile.

"Oh..." Eruha responded with a distant voice as if he was in a daze.

I tilted my head and looked at him inquisitively, but Lesta cleared his throat and stole my attention away.

"A-Ah, we’re here! This section is where the library is, Young Master," he said, as we exited the path and arrived at an indoor square. "Let’s hurry before a lot of people come."

"Oh, right," I snapped then, almost forgot about the whole being stared at along the way, thanks to our conversation.

Thankfully, since our destination was the library, we traveled to the section with less crowd than the other. Perhaps because it was the library, where quietness needed to be maintained, it was situated in the back where there wouldn’t be much traffic going on.

Following Lesta, who opened the big double door with ease, I stepped foot into the Lord Castle’s Central Library.

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