The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 89: A little taste of adventure in the heart of a demon castle

Chapter 89: A little taste of adventure in the heart of a demon castle

After putting back the book that I had been unconsciously clutching to all this time back onto the bookshelf, I followed Eruha deeper into the library. I was confused at first, because I thought we’d be going out—but why were we going further in instead?

"Since you’ve handled Caba well, I’m going to reward you, Young Master," Eruha said with a smile as he led me to one of the rooms in the back.

It looked like another room intended for discussion too, but with the typical school library setting; a large table with a dozen chairs around it. The vibe felt more solemn and scholarly, with cabinets containing stacks of blank papers and notebooks, as well as stationaries available in one corner.

"Reward?" I asked with a mix of confusion and expectation. I thought my reward was to see Natha in the middle of his work.

He just winked and told me to follow him, even putting his finger on his lips, signaling me to quiet down. It gave a sense of suspense, even though there was no one in the library in the first place.

So I followed him toward one of the bookshelves, and suddenly hit with an epiphany. I grabbed his sleeve in reflex and asked with a pounding heart. "Is...is this the s-secret passage?"

Damn, I even stuttered.

"Oh, you’re quick, Young Master," he said. And then he told me to get closer, and pointed to a book with a green cover. It looked ordinary, just like any other book. "Here, remember this one," he said to me, and then pointed to the gap above the book. "Put your hand there, Young Master."

Still with a pounding heart, I slip my hand between the green book and the wooden roof of the shelf. I ran my fingers around the hard wood until finally, somewhere toward the back, I felt a little carving.

"Ah,"

"Send a little bit of mana there," Eruha instructed further, which I followed, letting put just a whiff of mana.

Immediately, I felt the carving heat up and I heard a crisp clicking sound from somewhere. I looked at Eruha for confirmation, and the demon nodded with a smile. "Good, pull your hand out now."

I thought the bookshelf would suddenly move afterward, but nothing seemed to happen. What...so the shelf was just where the trigger button was? I pulled out and followed Eruha again, this time toward the utility cabinet I saw earlier. The demon then grabbed the side of the cabinet and swung it aside like a door.

And a door it was, for a wide gap enough for an adult demon to go through was there.

"Oh..."

Eruha looked at me and grinned, before gesturing with his hand inside. Without wasting any more time, I stepped through the frame and entered a dark passageway. With the light from the library room, I could see the stone path and walls before Eruha slipped inside and pulled the cabinet closed again.

There was a few seconds of darkness when I couldn’t see anything, but Eruha swiftly snapped his fingers and conjured up a blue fire to light our way.

The path was just as wide as the double-door cabinet, just enough for two adults walking side by side. With floating fires hovering on our front and back, Eruha led me deeper into the path, as I looked around the place like a kid in an amusement park.

"Will the path be locked automatically after we close the cabinet?"

"Yes," Eruha nodded. "And when you want to use the path to go inside the library instead, just find the same carving on the wall and send your mana like earlier."

Well, I guessed since this was a fantasy setting and all, the secret passages and traps would have to do with magic rather than complicated mechanics.

"Where is this path headed?" I asked after we walked for a while. Since the scenery was the same, it got boring looking around after a while.

"There are two places this path ends up in," Eruha told me. "We’ll reach the crossroad in a bit—ah, there it is."

He sent one of the fires forward, and soon, I could see the intersection. Just as Eruha said, it was a crossroads. One of them was just leading to a niche with what looked like a stone bench. It was probably some kind of resting place. The other two paths should lead to different places; one ahead and one on our left.

"We’ll be going forward this time," Eruha informed me, and then added as I stared at the path on our left with curiosity. "You can find out about this one yourself sometime, Young Master."

...ooh! Exploring secret passages by myself did seem like a nice plan to spend my time here. But for now, I just went straight as Eruha instructed.

We kept walking for a while, which reminded me of the time Natha took me to his private quarters for the first time. Eruha filled the time by starting his lesson on that demon language, asking me what my progress with it so far was. It made me stop wondering when would we arrive at the end of the tunnel.

So I didn’t even realize we had reached the end until I saw the floating fires ahead of us congregating in front of a wall.

"To your left, Young Master," Eruha pointed with his chin, and my eyes darted to find the carving on the wall. It was just a bit under my eye level, so I found it quickly, and brushed my fingers there.

Again, I heard a whirring sound that ended up with a light click, and curiously pushed on the wall in front of me. This time, rather than swung open, it slid to the side, and we were greeted with...another wall?

Eruha chuckled at my confused face, and lightly kicked the bottom of the wall, which was actually a wooden board. It slid to the side just like the stone wall, and opened to the interior of an empty cupboard.

Eruha slipped inside first, and opened the cupboard’s door to make room. After I stepped inside and walked out of the narrow space, he came back to close the stone and wooden wall before joining me on the outside.

The cupboard, as it turned out, was located in the back of a pantry. There were shelves of teas and other drinks, as well as tins of biscuits and cookies, which Eruha casually snatched.

He opened a small tin, enough to be held with one hand, and gave it to me after taking a piece. Raising my brow, I took the tin and looked inside to see nice-looking cookies wafting a scent of butter. It looked like the one the servants gave me as my afternoon tea snack, and I took one in delight, since I hadn’t had anything else after breakfast.

"Where is this?" I asked while munching on the cookies, and he answered by walking to the front side where a couple of startled servants greeted us.

"Easy there, I’m just stealing some biscuits for the Young Master," he said light-heartedly, and I almost choked on the cookies for that.

The servants looked at me and bowed deeply, and as my mouth was filled with cookies, I just nodded awkwardly in acknowledgment. Damn, this tall demon—using me as an alibi! He looked at me with a little smirk and I returned it by munching on another butter cookie aggressively.

He led me out of the pantry to a quiet hall adorned with velvet carpet, and I could hear faint murmurs of activity from around me; from the rooms flanking the corridor. Eruha brought me through the hall and some turns, before entering a room.

It looked like a meeting room, but for now, it was empty. There was another door at the back, where he led me to. As we stand before the door, he suddenly looked at me and whispered. "Let’s be quiet for a bit," he said mysteriously, before opening the door carefully with minimum sound.

And then, I heard it; a deep voice that got me to react instantly. I gripped the half-empty tin in my hand tightly, before scooting closer to the door. Again, Eruha gave me a wink and a deep smile, and pressed his body close to the door, as if he was about to peek inside.

Which I followed.

Closely, and carefully so as to not make a sound, I looked inside the room with a pounding heart.

The room was quite wide, with a seating area bearing eleven chairs, and walls filled with shelves containing scrolls and books. There was minimal decoration adorning the room, keeping the air stern and serious. Still, I could see the furniture was made from the highest quality materials, just like in the private quarters.

The solemnness and the minimalistic approach brought attention to the room’s centerpiece; a large desk with beautiful carving bearing many documents on top of it.

And then, leaning handsomely against the desk with a paper in his hand, was the Lord of the castle.

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