The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)

"What? No!" I let out a shout as I flipped the notebook upside down.

Were there torn pages? No, didn’t look like it. I rummaged through the drawer more, but I couldn’t find anything resembling the notebook anymore.

"Agh! Damn it! What kind of cliffhanger—"

I paused and pulled myself back, breathing slowly and deeply. Haa...I was being ridiculous. As if reading someone’s diary wasn’t morally skewed enough, I even treated it like some kind of novel.

*slap*

Jade chirped in shock as I slapped my cheek, flying frantically in front of me. But I couldn’t humor its worry.

In my hand was the record of someone’s suffering, yet I treated it like enjoyment, whining about cliffhangers and whatnot.

"You’re such a trash, Val..." I reprimanded myself and put the notebook back into the deep part of the drawer.

Scooping Jade into my arms, I stood up and left the room quietly, the magic lamp flickered off as I exited and closed the door.

I didn’t manage to get what I was looking for—the way to block Natha’s ability. But I had no motivation to do it anymore.

It wasn’t an ability that Natha asked for. For him, it was a curse rather than a gift. I had no idea how he felt about it now, or whether he managed to control that ability. But I understood that it came through many hardships and suffering.

Perhaps, even Natha himself wished he couldn’t sense it—couldn’t sense how I thought about someone else when I was with him.

It made me feel a little bit shameless in trying to find his weakness.

But I also didn’t expect I would be privy to the knowledge about Natha’s past. Especially since it seemed to be one of the crucial moments in his life. There were quite a few things that I learned from this—things Zia hadn’t taught me.

Like how people treated him in his youth.

From what I could infer, people regarded him highly on the surface, but harbored malicious thoughts inside. Keywords like fear, hatred, and curse, as well as the continuous assassination attempt...

And then there was something about his parent being a traitor?

But usually, in this kind of story, someone who was branded as the son of a traitor wouldn’t have any leeway to attend the academy or join the military campaign. Much less being summoned by the King. They were usually exiled and shunned rather than feared.

But that wasn’t the case with Natha. He seemed to still enjoy life inside a big mansion with dozens of servants and guards, his mother was allowed to have a birthday banquet, and he still attended the academy like it was normal.

Honestly, the more I knew about him, the more questions I had.

Well, when in doubt, ask.

So I took Zia for another picnic and another conversation. This time, I managed to persuade Angwi to let us have it on the soft blue grass.

"My cousin’s family?" Zia tilted her head. "You mean his direct family?"

"Yes," I stretched out my feet outside of the blanket, feeling the grass tickling my skin. "I mean, shouldn’t I know more about that, as his...umm, bride?"

Ah, Val, you shameless trash, you.

Jade, who probably sense my guilty conscience, stared at me from the center of the purple jellies plate. Wordlessly pecked into the jelly while sending me a dubious look.

Why would an elemental bird who fed on mana eat jelly anyway? I poked its cheek in retaliation.

"Oh, you’re right!" the innocent young succubus replied enthusiastically. "But shouldn’t you ask him yourself?"

"Well, aren’t you there that time when he told me to learn about him myself?" I threw out an excuse.

Thankfully it was a legit one, and Zia nodded her head in agreement. So she began to tell me about their family in general first. Like how big their clan was.

I knew that Natha was a part of the Ra clan, one of the biggest clans in the Demon Realm. But she also told me that Natha’s family was rather reclusive and distant.

"It’s because they are pureblood," she said, when I asked her to elaborate. "Before we got boxed up in different worship, us demons liked to roam around the world, and had no qualms about marrying humans or those children of nature. So most of the demons were actually mixed blood—at least, their ancestors were. Especially my kind, for obvious reason."

Right, since the incubus and succubus probably roamed the land further and had broader minds about their partner. If I could be brasher, they just didn’t care about their partner as long as it satisfied their needs. So naturally, their family trees would be filled with people from various races.

But some families kept the demon blood pure, and only married those from other pure-blooded family. Natha’s family was one of them. It wasn’t anything like keeping the pride of the demons or disdain against other races’ blood, however.

"They had to. They are part of the ancient council that’s responsible for making sure we can still have Demon King in the future," Zia paused her lecture in favor of finishing her pudding, which gave me time to process this information.

"Wait—you mean the Demon King has to be a pureblood demon?"

Zia looked at me as if it was obvious. "Of course!" she wiggled her spoon in the air. "Our King is the vessel of the Demon God, so having other blood inside the vessel won’t work, since it will cause a rejection."

Hmm—wait! My eyes flickered, as if I was receiving an epiphany. So there were families responsible to keep their bloodline pure to act as the future Demon King’s candidate. Then wouldn’t that mean...

"Are you saying that Nat—his Lordship qualified to be a Demon King?"

Zia narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about? Lord Cousin had been the Demon King candidate since his birth."

"...because he’s from that family?" I tilted my head. Then wouldn’t that mean there were a lot of candidates? I had no idea how many families were in this pureblood maintenance group, but there should be quite a few, right?

But Zia shook her head. "It’s not that simple. There will be a lot of candidates if that’s the case. There are thirteen families in that council alone, and more families outside of the council also maintain their blood."

Well, that made sense. "Then?"

"It’s because Lord Cousin has the alpha seed," Zia stared at me to gauge some reaction, but since I had no idea what an alpha seed was, I only gave her a blank look. Zia sighed and muttered then. "Right, you’re not a demon. Of course, you don’t know."

And then my little succubus teacher started her lecture on the nature of demonkind’s subservience toward their one and only Demon King. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Apparently, it wasn’t because of the fact that the King was the proxy of their God. Well, that too, but the biggest reason was due to the King’s trait of enacting forced obedience from all the demons.

In short, the King was their Alpha. That was why, despite mostly spending their time inside the Sanctuary, no one could object to the King or plan a coup. They might conspire to put someone as the next King, but they couldn’t dethrone the current reign.

Thus, as the next ’Alpha’, the King candidate would be someone who had the alpha seed. In Natha, it manifested since his birth.

Something tugged on my mind then. "Is it...the pattern in his body?"

"Oh, you realize it?" Zia grinned before nodding. "The mark of the seed actually manifested differently in each person. But Lord Cousin has it out in the open, so news of it traveled fast. I heard from my father that Lord Cousin’s father was severing his ties from his faction because of it, and enraging a lot of people. I don’t know why though, you have to ask him directly about it."

I pulled my feet off the grass and folded them as if I was meditating. My mind was replaying the content of the book I read yesterday. The way people feared him, but also scorned him, hated him, and even tried to kill him.

A storyline formed inside my head. A Demon King candidate since birth. A lot of jealousy, probably from the other pureblooded family. And then something about the ’oracle’ that his Great-Aunt wanted to protect so much. Might it state that Natha would be the Demon King? If that were the case, then the jealousy would be even more severe.

So severe that many wanted him dead so others could fulfill the role.

"There...must be a lot of people aiming for his life?" I muttered unconsciously.

"So I heard," Zia replied. But her voice was as cheerful as ever. "At least when he was young. But my father said the amount is decreasing as he grew more powerful."

Hmm...I looked up at the high and mighty tower, and then threw my gaze toward the faraway Lord Castle.

Power. Wealth. Authority.

Perhaps...he amassed all of that to protect himself.

* * *

In the end, I couldn’t find out about the birthday banquet tragedy, or about the traitor brand. Zia didn’t mention it—or she might not know about it. And I couldn’t ask without revealing the source of the information.

Also, the latest fact about him being the Demon King candidate was just...too mindblowing I guess, that I couldn’t even think about other things.

Like...how was it that every time I tried to find out something about him, he turned out even grander and grander. As if it wasn’t enough that he was the Lord, he was also super wealthy, and might be destined to rule the whole Demon Realm.

It made my head spin.

Rather than shading light on the reason for his agreement of helping me by turning me into his bride, I became even more confused.

Initially, I thought he wanted to play me. Taking revenge for my role in killing a lot of demons by giving me hope only to kill me later. But he was too invested in curing me for that.

I also thought he was just doing it for fun. Like maybe he wanted to add me to his harem collection. A taste of human hybrid, perhaps. But he took too much time for it, and the way he acted that last time...his slight anger and disappointment at my mention of another man’s name, made me think that maybe—maybe, it wasn’t just fun and game for him.

But then...why?

Why would someone from a pureblood tradition make me—a human hybrid—as his bride? Even if I was to be no more than a side piece, wouldn’t it weaken his standing? Especially as the Demon King candidate.

After all, I was the enemy.

It didn’t make sense that someone who was once branded as the son of a traitor proceed to do something that would make him branded as a real traitor among demons.

"Nghh! It just messed my head even more!" I rolled around on the bed in frustration. Copying me, Jade rolled around the pillow like a white, fluffy ball. Staring at the ceiling, I steeled my heart and muttered with conviction.

"That’s it! I should just ask him and demand an answer!" I decided, tired of endless thinking without any proper answer. "I’ll do it the next time he comes!"

However, that next time was hard to come by.