The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 459: Family is a privilege one often overlooks

Chapter 459: Family is a privilege one often overlooks

Beauty was relative, but the first thing the guests thought the moment they looked at the balcony was ’beautiful’.

The Lord has always been a fearful existence, even to those who were already used to him. Rarely could people look at the Lord in his silver eyes, because they would feel as if they were in a clutch of their worst fear. It was inevitable, because he was a Nightmare that had witnessed all kinds of fear on a battlefield.

But at that time, it was as if the fear enveloping the Nightmare dissipated. They could see his soft smile and admiring gaze as he led his newly wedded spouse to stand near the balcony railing.

But they could understand.

Draped in a long deep blue tunic with golden embroidery, the Lord Consort beamed radiantly. The crown on his head was now tailed with strings made of the finest gemstones, cascading his hair like a glittering waterfall. The crown itself shimmered in the light of the venue, creating an iridescent light that looked like a rainbow halo on his head.

The Lord Consort smiled at first. But soon, his face shifted into an adorable surprise as he looked around the venue. His cheeks bloomed into a soft peach blossom, and the green eyes sparkled like a pair of emeralds. His whole face brightened as he looked at the Lord with awe, and when those eyes curled and those lips broke a joyful smile...

Yes. Yes, they could understand.

It took a while and a coughing sound from the Lord’s vassals to finally make the Lord move and address the guests. Even then, they could sense that the Lord’s heart and mind weren’t in his tongue; it was in the life partner he so wished to take home and hide from everyone.

* * *

Oh, Mother...Mother! The place was so beautiful!

I knew what the Great Hall looked like, and I had seen it during the autumn banquet. I remembered this balcony, but when I looked at the venue, I wondered where we were. Was Natha brought me to a dimensional chamber? This was even more ’garden’ than yesterday’s garden party!

The surprise I felt from the venue made all of my nervousness about appearing in front of the demons’ high society dissipate--or rather, it was replaced by wonder and awe. I couldn’t stop the smile from surfacing all the time, even while Natha made his speech addressing the crowd.

Oh, even Jade praised Natha for it, which showed that it was truly a great venue.

"People said newlyweds are always glowing," Uncle Sol was the first to greet us beneath the stairs. "I see that it’s true."

"Uncle, that fireworks were so good!" I told him, and Jade--who had gone back to the plump little bird form--nodded enthusiastically.

[It will be better if they turn into birds! But it’s okay, Jade like it a lot!]

I told him what Jade was saying, and the sleep-deprived Uncle laughed before creating another spark which turned into a flock of birds. Jade chirped and shrieked in delight, leaping off to fly along the firebirds.

"Thank you!" I watched Jade playing catch with the magical birds, which Uncle Sol continued to control seamlessly.

"I’ll babysit your familiar for a while," he chuckled and told us to move on since there were still a lot of guests we needed to greet.

I was stiffened for a few seconds at the prospect of talking to all of the...I had no idea, of the hundreds of guests I saw in this huge Great Hall.

"No, you don’t have to greet everyone," Natha told me with a small laugh after he saw my expression. With his hand on my waist to lead me forward, he added. "That’s why we have this second floor, sweetheart."

Oh! So I only needed to receive the ones going to this floor? Phew...

My apologies; I had no beef with the guests, but after the parade, I was too mentally exhausted to deal with too many nobles and high-profile people--and that wasn’t curable by my druid rejuvenation. At least, I knew some people on the second floor.

"Valen, baby!" the Vampire Lord cupped my cheeks and rubbed them while laughing. "How do you get even prettier than the last time I saw you, hmm?"

"I think it’s the clothes..."

"No way! I bet you’re even prettier without ones!"

I almost choked on my saliva and Natha had to slap her upper arm. Looking at my boiling-red face, she raised her brows and laughed. "Oh, you’re not that drunk yet!"

Aaagh! I swore to never get drunk in front of other people again!

Thankfully, the other guests seemed to treat Sada’s words as a jest, or they were just graceful enough to pretend they heard nothing. Aleena made a curtsy while holding back her laugh though, so...yeah.

And then, came the Hulk.

Ahem--I mean, the Lord of Wrath. He looked different from the last one in Valmeier’s memory, but still just as big. Natha was already pretty much towering above me, but this one was just massive! The big, flowy formal robe of the Realm of Wrath couldn’t hide the muscle underneath.

Also...

"Hoo...so, this is the one who weakened my predecessor so much the humans managed to kill him, huh?"

It was my first time meeting someone from the Realm of Wrath. And it had to be its Lord.

I...was frozen. I could only look at the hulking demon while gripping Natha’s coat, thinking about hiding behind him but also wondering if that would be seen as an insult.

And then, the Lord of Wrath laughed and...raised his thumb?

"Good job, human! I managed to become the Lord because of that!" he laughed and bowed slightly at Natha before returning to his seat with a wide grin across his face.

...huh?

That was...unexpected. I turned to look at Natha dumbfoundedly, and he just chuckled while stroking my back. Oh, so that was why he didn’t even react when the Lord of Wrath came up and spoke that first time.

"There’s no way I will put someone who hates you on the Lord’s seat," he whispered while we continued to sit at our table.

I remembered then, that Natha was the one who held the tournament to pick the new Lord back then, and...uhh, should I say that I got goosebumps?

"My Prince!"

Ah, the Chiefs were coming! I didn’t know when, but Amarein had joined them, and they all gave me a deep, formal bow. Uhh...Amarein already warned me about it before, that the Chiefs wanted to give me royal treatment during the banquet so people wouldn’t look down on me. I didn’t think anyone did, but...oh, well--I’ll humor these Grandpas and Grandmas.

As if they had made an agreement before, the elves were doing the same. They were already way more formal than the druids in the first place, so they did it even more extravagantly. Not only a series of curtsy, but they also took time to convey a poem addressing me and this union. I had to grip Natha’s hand hard to hold back from ducking my head under the table. My apologies to the one who composed it, but It was too embarrassing for me!

Thankfully, Tourma was more...mild. He bowed a normal amount, and seemed to be pleased that I wore the crown. He didn’t feel offended that Arta was attaching all of the gemstone strings to the branch, and even praised my look for it.

"Thank you for the praise, Uncle."

How should I say this...after knowing that Grandma’s husbands had identical souls, I felt more attachment to the Mayor than before and called him ’Uncle’ in a slip of the tongue. He blinked in surprise for a second, before smiling subtly.

"Stop teasing me, Your Highness."

"You stop teasing me," I pursed my lips, knowing that he knew I didn’t like being called that. "And I didn’t do such a thing! You’re the one who said you think of me like your nephew--was that a lie?"

He looked dumbfounded at my rant, and then he laughed--I think that was the first time I heard it. Well, I was glad that he took it well.

"Your family seems to grow every day," Natha chuckled in amusement, which made me grin sheepishly.

I guess...unconsciously, I wanted to have a growing, extended family since I barely had any in my previous life. Hell...I didn’t even have parents I could comfortably call Papa or Mama cutely--and then they were gone. My other relatives only existed in my world when they came to ’ask’ and ’persuade’ me to change Grandpa’s will. Not quite the family one might wish for.

But here...I had a bunch of Grandmas and Grandpas who kept begging me to visit them just so they could see my face and talk about mundane things with me. I had sisters and brothers who genuinely cared for my well-being and happiness even without a shred of blood shared between us. I had Auntie and Uncles calling me sweet names and supporting me readily when I asked--or even before I even asked.

It was like...a huge gift wrapped in warm sunlight and spring breeze.

I giggled at the thought and Natha kissed my forehead gently in response. "I’m glad," he said, before adding in a whisper. "As long as I’m still your number one."

"Of course, you do...at least before Shwa is born later," I whispered back and laughed at his fake sulking. It was fun thinking that my family would keep growing--at least another one--but the thought reminded me of one thing.

"Umm, Nat..." I whispered and asked carefully. "Is your Grand Aunt here?"