The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 114: Between cotton candy and a soft place

Chapter 114: Between cotton candy and a soft place

"You said two weeks!"

This time, Zia really was angry. She was sulking so much and refused to get out of her rooms ever since she knew I was going through the portal with Jade in tow. Like now, I had been talking to her through the door.

Well, with me and Jade leaving the Lair, it would mean she lost her two friends, and the tower would go back to how it was before I arrived--which, according to her, was boring. I remembered how it was after my only friend in the past, that author girl died, so I understood her a little bit.

"But it’s not like I go far? You can just visit me through the portal?" I reasoned with her. "I will leave my communication orb here, so you can call me whenever."

"But you won’t be physically here!" she argued. "What...what if I want to talk with you in the middle of the night? What if I want to discuss something after dinner--you won’t even be here during dinner! I’m going to have to eat alone again!"

Haa...I let out a long sigh. Even Jade only chirping sadly, putting its wings on the door. I guessed these two had really bonded.

"Come on, at least let me see your face? Jade also want to see you, right?" I looked at the sad-looking bird, who was chirping loudly in response.

Zia did not make any move for a long time, and I just crouching in front of the door with Jade, waiting. When I finally hear a shuffling sound inside, I scooped the little bird into my hands and the door clicked open not long after.

"Just so you know," the purple orbs glared at both of us, but the words were directed at Jade. "You’re a traitor too."

[Ung...]

Jade lowered its head guiltily--poor bird, it probably didn’t account for separation with a friend to be included in moving out with me. Zia stomped into her room, and I took it as permission to enter.

If you should know, her room was exactly how I imagine a teenager’s room would be; cluttered with random things, colorful, with posters of her favorite musicians. The bookcase standing quietly in the corner did not prevent the pile of books to exist on the floor, and the many crumpled papers of manuscripts told me she still struggling with her new book.

"Sit."

She threw herself onto the velvet couch that bore so many pillows it looked like a cushy fortress, hugging a big slime plushie with a sulking face. Her lower lip jutted out, and her brow furrowed deep. Jade jumped from my hands and flew to one of the pillows, nudging the succubus with its wing.

I pressed my lips to swallow a sigh while looking at her. What should I do? I never had a younger sister to be reasoned with before. And technically...she was older than me, wasn’t she?

"Hey, look," I started. "It’s not like I’ll never go back you know."

"Liar!"

"Really!" I chuckled at how Jade decided to fly to Zia’s hair and pecked on it. "This place is still the best for me to train my druid skill. Don’t you know that’s why Natha build the portal in the first place? It’s so I can go back and forth with ease."

I could see the jutted lip retracted for a bit, but she still looked madly sulked. "But still..."

"You can call me if you want to meet, and I’ll go here with Jade--right?" I asked the bird, who chirped energetically in response. "Or you can go over there. We’ll just stay in the greenhouse like the last time if you don’t want to be in the castle."

"Hnn..." she gripped her plushie and stared at me through the synthetic fur. "But...what if I want to see you and you are with Lord Cousin? You will certainly choose him over me..."

Wow...people truly assumed I only thought of Natha all day, huh? Not that they were wrong. "He’s busy working during the day, so we can always meet and talk then," I told her while taking out the communication orb that Natha gave me back then and putting it on the table. "Here, I’ll take the one in Natha’s possession, so you can call me whenever, okay? Besides...is it so wrong of me to want to spend time with someone I love? You’re a romance writer, so you should know about this."

"Ugh..."

"On that topic..." I looked over to the bookcase, where it held a number of books. I could see Zia’s pen name carved there. "I promise to read all your books, alright? So stop making a fuss."

And by ’fuss’ I meant sealing the door leading up to the portal gate.

My promise about reading her books got the succubus perked up. "Really? You promise?"

"Mm," I nodded. Romance books really weren’t my thing, but of course, I’d try reading my friend’s book. "Eruha will give me an advanced lecture on demonese, so I’ll be able to read them soon."

Now, the frown on her forehead had vanished, and Jade tapped on her hair with soft chirping. She pressed her lips for a few seconds, before grumbling quietly. "Well, I supposed you do need to be there to learn more..."

I laughed softly and leaned back on the chair. Jade flew over to me then, after making sure Zia wasn’t angry anymore. The bird perched on my shoulder, nuzzling my cheek with its round head.

"You know..." I looked outside the window, where I could still see the cotton candy cloud and the elemental bird flying about. It reminded me of my first time coming here, and it filled me with nostalgia. "This is the first place that I can call home."

And I didn’t mean just in this world. In my previous world too, there was nowhere I could call home; not the house filled with arguing sounds, or the cold and lonely hospital ward.

"So there’s no way I will completely leave this place. Not when this is Natha’s Lair, not when this is where Jade was born, and not when this is where I got my first friend," my lips stretched on their own. It kind of hit me then, that I would truly leave this place and live in the castle. "This is still where I belong, Zia, in this tower."

The succubus, without me realizing it, had stood in front of me, and reached out her hands to my face. "Okay," she spoke softly, lips trembling and eyes glazed. "Okay, don’t cry."

She wiped the tears that I didn’t even know had dropped from my eyes. Was that why Jade had been nuzzling my cheek and chirping low? It seemed like my familiar felt it before I did--the sadness that I didn’t expect before.

Perhaps because my mind was getting occupied with a lot of things--from the euphoria of having Jade evolved, to all that incident about getting sucked inside a divine abode and the moving process--I hadn’t really looked inside myself these days.

And it was such a confusing feeling. Of course, the thought of living with Natha, seeing him every morning and every night, eating and sleeping and talking and doing all mundane things with him on a daily basis...it filled me with wonderful thoughts. I felt happy, I felt excited about the new adventures in a new place, of interacting with my other new friends.

But this place...this tower, this Lair, was the place where I first felt like I was accepted. It was the first place where I felt I could move without any pain in my body, where I could run around without fainting, where I could eat whatever I want, however much I could. It was a place that never cease to be warm even when the weather started to get cold. Never cease to be beautiful.

It was the place where I finally felt like I was alive.

So even when I felt excited and happy about living with Natha, I also felt sad about leaving this place. It would be best if Natha could just live here instead of the Lord Castle, but even I couldn’t afford to be that greedy.

And I realized more and more that Natha knew about this conflict brewing inside me. Wasn’t that why he built that portal gate in the first place? Because he knew I wouldn’t be able to lose my attachment to this place.

That realization, in turn, just made me fall even more, and no matter how attached I was to this place, I still wanted to be with Natha.

But...wasn’t this wonderful?

To think I would be in this position where I felt sad about choosing between heaven and paradise. My old withering body could never.

"I’m just...going to have more adventures for a while. That’s okay, right?"

Zia didn’t answer with words. She just hugged me tight and nodded against my shoulder.

"I’ll visit often, okay?"

"Okay," she finally replied weakly.

"You can call me anytime, okay?"

"Okay,"

I could feel Jade’s confusion about my state of mind, and I laughed while patting the green head. The bird must felt both my happiness and sadness mingling inside, and wondering how could that be possible. Jade probably wondered if it should cheer me up or be excited with me, when Zia was crying silently, and tears were glazing my eyes.

It was fine. It was confusing to me too.

"Can I use your story for my book?" she asked suddenly, face still buried in my shoulder.

I couldn’t help but laugh at that, and the persisting sadness seemed to be blown away at that. "Something like interracial romance?"

"...that’s a new word. Can I use it?"

"You have to ask Natha for permission regarding the story," I patted her side and she retreated, sighing, probably knowing the difficulty in that. The mood was dipping slightly again, so I clasped my hands to gain their attention. "Hey, you know what--why don’t we have a party?"

Zia widened her eyes, and responded in a sharp whisper. "You mean like lots of snacks and drinks kind of party?"

[Candies?!]

"Yeah. You can play that band’s recording too, and we’ll play lots of games, and we won’t sleep until we’re satisfied!" somehow, my voice also turned into a whisper, as if we were talking about conspirational things.

"Just the three of us? Here?"

"Yup," I nodded firmly, before pausing in contemplation. "Unless you want to invite others, like Angwi or--"

"No!" Zia immediately shook her head, and Jade, who was now perching on the succubus’s hair, also followed suit. Both of them wore a panic expression and honestly, it was adorable. "J-just us three! Just us!"

Well, of course, I was only joking. I could already see the stony, unimpressed face of the silent maid just at the mention of the word ’party’.

"Alright," I nodded, putting my hands on Zia’s shoulder and looking at both the young succubus and the little elemental bird. "Let’s do this."