The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 97: Triggering forgotten memories in another world

Chapter 97: Triggering forgotten memories in another world

The river almost felt like a lake, but it was beautiful regardless. The canopy of leaves that obstructed the sky over the forest seemed to give way to the blue ribbon, letting the sunlight bounce across the body of water. It sparkled in pretty light, clear enough for fish to swim about. It was so clear that I could see the colorful stones below, giving the illusion that the river was shallow enough for a casual dip.

It wasn’t.

It was deep, at least more than two meters, definitely enough to drown me. But the current was calm, since we weren’t on a steep land. Still, I told Jade to be careful not to dive into the water. At least, not until the little bird absorbed the purified mana.

To be honest, I still had no idea how to go about this thing. So I just did what I usually do; finding a place to sit and dispersing my consciousness. Unlike with the clearing, where it had a conventional ’chair’ for me to use, there was nothing like that here. So I just plopped down on the riverside, and took off my shoes so I could dip my feet inside the water.

"Oof—" the moment my skin touched the water, a shiver ran through my spine. "I guess I should have gone here during the summer..."

Perhaps because the Lair had a temperature and weather control formation, even while the season changed, I didn’t really feel the shift. I felt the heat and the cold, the rain and wind, but it was always in moderation, like the subdued version of what was really happening outside. Even while going outside, Angwi always made sure I was dressed well, to make sure my body temperature was well maintained.

Wow...now that I think about it, they really took care of me, huh?

"Well, we’re in the mountain after all," Doun reminded me of another fact.

"Hmm..."

Putting my legs deeper into the water, I watched my reflection on the water’s surface while musing. "I thought I’m getting immune to cold because of Natha, but..."

Doun crouched on the sandy beach beside me while responding. "His Lordship’s coldness probably feels comfortable for you, right, Young Master?"

I turned to look at him with curiosity, and he added with a sheepish smile. "It’s because you don’t fear him."

"Oh?"

Perhaps because he saw my intrigued eyes, Doun continued without me needing to ask. "His Lordship’s ’coldness’ isn’t a physical one. It affected one’s mind by drawing one’s fear. The more someone fears him, the more uncomfortable that ’coldness’ feels."

Ah, so that was the answer to one of my trivial thought; about why I had never been bothered by Natha’s cold skin despite still shivering at the normal decrease in temperature.

"But of course, it’s also because His Lordship treasure you so much, Young Master. There’s no way he would cast Nightmare’s inherent trait on you," Doun added with a smile and a little wink, prompting me to turn my gaze back to the water. But even the river teasingly reflected my blushing cheek with clarity. Ugh...Let’s just focus on the training.

I scooped up Jade, who was sunbathing in my lap, and stared at the little bird. I was thinking of holding Jade in my hands, just like every time I fed it mana. But knowing about the possible side effect worried me; what if I really transmorphed and dragged this little guy underwater without noticing it?

"You stay with Doun for now, okay?" I told the little bird sternly, and received a flustered chirping.

Again, my cheek was getting headbutted, and my lips had to taste the tickling wings. But I sent Jade my concerned thought telepathically, and the bird finally relented. It dejectedly flew to the demon’s head, making the brown hair a nest while letting out a quiet whimpering sound.

Acting pitiful and adorable...where did you learn such a thing from, huh?

I tore my gaze away from Jade and focused back on the river. Taking a deep breath, I withdrew the senses I spread toward my surroundings earlier, and focused them on the water. More precisely, I focused on the mana circuits of my legs, and branched them out.

Unlike the plants, water had no sentient thought. It was an archaic form of life, and I had to immerse myself deeper than usual. Felt every drop of water, every molecule, every atomic structure and everything in between.

Different from before, I wanted to focus entirely on the water elemental, which meant I had to ignore other life forces, from the underwater creatures to the wriggling bacteria. It took a whole lot more focus than before. Slithering toward the water, chasing the cold feeling that felt different from Natha.

As my consciousness was flowing down and getting sucked into the river, I started to understand why the young druids went lost and missing. Hmm...wasn’t I considered a young druid too? I was still in my early twenties after all. By druid standards, I would be considered a juvenile, actually, just like Zia.

But "I" in my previous life was definitely an adult already, and as a human in this world, Valmeier had already been considered an adult since he was fifteen years old, which was when he started going down the mountain.

That damn kingdom, sending a boy in his teens to deal with dirty work and killing demons from the shadow...even went so far as to slander his name...It kind of made me want to burn them to the ground—

Ah, I digressed. See, like that. It was hard to focus on an objective when we tried to emulate something that wasn’t sentient. Because instead of peeking into their life, we were peeking into ourselves inside.

As my thought flew out, my consciousness got blurred, as if I was drowning. And slowly, I found myself descending into a void. Flowing to a designated place, conforming oneself to fit with what had been ordained. Following the law of nature, never to defy. Agency and egos were not needed for such design, for the path of life had been decided in a fixed cycle.

Ah...no wonder it was easy to lose oneself in the immersion. I no longer could feel my body, or even my surrounding. I didn’t need to know about that. I just needed to feel where the law of the world pulled me. Floating, free of thought, free of purposes. Free of freedom. Just moving...moving everywhere the path took me...

—If you scatter my ash in the water, I will be able to go anywhere, to places I’ve never been to, perhaps even to places no one knows to

I blinked. Or my fading consciousness blinked. A soft, melodious voice resounded in my mind, bringing forth a forgotten memory. Of a small sparkling blue ribbon and a warm, gentle stroke on my hair.

—Maybe I’ll be able to see fairies...don’t you think so?

No—it wasn’t warm, but feverish. It wasn’t gentle, but weak. What warm and gentle was her voice, and the sparkling water. Perhaps it was the reflection of sunlight upon the fairies’ crystal wings. I had never seen fairies, though. But demons were as pretty as fairies, I think...

—If I became one with the river, maybe I can see you again, my dear

—In different places

—At different times

Would we? I didn’t remember if I made a reply. How old was I? What I remembered, however, was my grandmother’s emerald eyes, and her saddened gaze.

—But even if we can’t meet again, I hope you’ll be happy...

Oh, so I got my eyes from her. I had been wondering why my grandpa dotted on me, but I was too stupid to even remembered grandma’s face.

—I’m sorry that you will have to suffer, my dear. But you need to be strong, you need to hold on...

Again, I blinked. This time, it wasn’t metaphorical. I could feel my body, slowly, even though it felt different than before. But as I regained my function and my agency, the memories seemed to slip away.

Oh no—I tried hard to look inside myself again, to look at those emerald eyes again, to hear the nostalgic, kind voice again.

—Hold on, until he comes to you...

And then I gasped—or rather, gurgled. My mind felt like a whirlpool, as if my consciousness was being forcefully sucked inside me once again, all at once. It also kind of felt like I had just got ejected from some recording.

That was...unexpected. I didn’t expect to suddenly got a memory of my childhood, which I had pretty much forgotten already. Whether it was due to my deterioration of health or trauma, I had slowly lost them as my life force slipped away in the hospital.

Well, it wasn’t like I had anything or anyone that could help me maintain those memories. Even if it wasn’t because of my mysterious illness, I probably would still forget about them.The reason why the memory surfaced, perhaps, was because it was the only thing in my memory that was associated with the river.

That being said...my grandmother sure said some weird things, huh. I felt like I needed to delve deeper into this, but for now, I already got distracted by the weird sensation in my body. Vaguely, I heard familiar voices from somewhere, and tried to move my head toward the direction of the noise.

As I did, a splashing sound accompanied my movement, and I couldn’t help but look down. Oh, look at that.

I turned into liquid.

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