The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 542: Even in regard to punishment, we should be generous

Chapter 542: Even in regard to punishment, we should be generous

I raised my hand like a good boy. "I have a question, my Lord."

"You may ask, my sweetheart."

"Does this mean we can decide the punishment on our own?" I glanced at him.

Rather than answering right away, he glanced at Hagai, who immediately straightened his back. His already serious expression turned even more solemn, and when I was wondering why he was like that, the demon opened his mouth, spewing words in a courtroom clerk’s dry intonation.

"Should a crime be committed on the Castle grounds, the right to enact punishment shall fall to the Lord of the Castle," Hagai started. "Additionally, the Lord shall grant the right to decide the corresponding punishment to; one, the party who received the most harm, and two, those designated as the Lord’s proxy."

Wow...was Natha using him as a text recorder or something?

"Would you look at that," our dear Demon Lord patted my shoulder. "You even fulfilled both conditions, sweetheart."

"So...I can do whatever I want to do to this...individual?" I looked at him. "There’s no law or limitation?" I tilted my head. "Protection of demon rights?"

I mean, it wouldn’t be fun if I got punished by the law for excessively punishing someone.

But Natha just scoffed. "Such a thing does not apply to those we consider exiles. You may decide freely," his curling lips did not match the coldness in his eyes, especially when he continued in a low, sinister voice. "Even if it means looking for some sharks and dolphins so we can use these demons as feeds."

I gasped and clasped my hands. "Just like what Grandpa did!"

Opti and Hagai gave me an inquisitive look, perhaps because they thought a druid could never do something like that. Whelp--who knows what grandma’s first husband would do? He sounded quite wild with all of his hexes repertoire.

"I guess it is," Natha nodded, strangely looking happy about this situation. Was it because we could finally deal with some punishment for this nightmare? Or was it because we could instill fear in the other prisoners? His gaze as he looked at me while caressing my hair looked too gentle for that kind of thought, however. Hmm...

Anyway, this law to let me do whatever I wanted was honestly concerning and prone to be abused. What if the Lord was a tyrant who enjoyed torturing prisoners slowly as a hobby? Hmm...was that why those medieval, feudal stories were always filled with blood and abundant with evil Lords?

Oh, well...we could try to change it little by little in the future, but for now...considering this organization that wanted to tackle Natha might have the backing of one or two Lords, it might be best to wrap it under the radar.

At least until Natha decided to raise the flag of war.

For now, let’s exploit this unhealthy law to our heart’s content. After all, we were the Lords of Greedc weren’t we?

So I stretched my arms and raised my invisible hand.

Slap!

"Ugh--"

"What to do with you?" I stroked my chin in contemplation, raising the invisible hand to do some smacking while thinking about the appropriate punishment.

Smack!

The nightmare tried to open his mouth to say something, but the hand already moved to smack the other side of his cheek. His head swayed from one side to another, and the sound of coughing amid the slapping filled the room for quite some time.

Well, I did say I wanted to slap him several times, didn’t I?

When I took a pause on the invisible hand to make sure he was still conscious, Opti gave me an option. "I don’t think we can get anything more from this one, Young Master," the shapeshifter said with a strangely cheery sound. "Should we kill him?"

Oh--I had been wondering about that! Was Opti able to read minds too? I glanced at Natha inquisitively, but he seemed to think I was asking for his input.

"I’ll leave it to my sweetheart," he said with a happy smile and soft gaze that did not match the vibe of this basement.

"Hmm..."

I looked at the nightmare prisoner again; he seemed to be trying to speak, so I used the invisible hand to grab his swollen face and cover his mouth shut. No, no--Opti said there was nothing we could get from this person again, so there was no need to let him speak. It would be either a curse or a plea for his life anyway, which would either bore me or make me take pity on him--and I did not want either.

As I stared into his glaring dark eyes, I decided. "Killing it’s not fun."

"Oh! Are you my soulmate, Young Master?" Opti clasped his hands, and was greeted by Natha’s glare right after. This possessive husband even grabbed my shoulder as if to prevent Opti from taking me away. "Ahem--I mean, I agree."

Opti cleared his throat and snickered at Natha’s reaction--which, I had to admit, was rather too much. Please; it wasn’t like someone else could ever able to seduce me. I didn’t even get seduced by an incubus taking your appearance, my Lord.

Oh, now that I think about it...my mind flew to the report that Opti gave me earlier. It seemed like this nightmare was also responsible for roping Zir’Kal and his elders to the trope, inciting the annoyance the incubi held for me and Natha so they would join the hateful trope’s case and provide the needed funds.

Tsk. Zir’Kal was whatever, but he was still Zia’s only blood brother. To think this nightmare dragged the family of someone dear to me...

"Hey," with the newly lit fuse inside my heart, I clenched the nightmare’s jaw with the invisible hand. "It seems like you really liked talking shit, huh? You’re the one who instigated the hate crime against my husband, weren’t you?"

"My husband..."

"My Lord..." Hagai sighed.

"Ahem," Natha cleared his throat and gestured at me to continue.

This silly husband of mine. But oh, that was why I hated this nightmare who seemed to make it his lifelong mission to harm Natha, unprovoked. It was easy to turn off my consideration switch because of that.

"Well, if you liked talking shit so much, we should just fill your mouth with it."

Hagai tilted his head in confusion, but Opti’s eyes lit up. He perked up and straightened his posture, before clearing his throat and making a serious inquiry.

"Which kinds do you want, Young Master?"

Oh, I liked that he was quick on the uptake. "What do you mean which kinds? We are the Realm of Greed!" I scoffed. "We don’t skimp on quality or quantity."

"Ah, how silly of me!" Opti smacked his forehead. "Of course, we should be generous."

"Yes, we are generous," I nodded and smiled at the nightmare, which from the widened eyes seemed to understand what I meant already. This was the fun of dealing with a smart person. "You need to get him everything."

With a voice that sounded almost too cheery, Opti bowed his upper body and replied with a smile. "It shall be done."

"Good, good."

Since the decision-making time was over, I let go of the nightmare. Perhaps it was adrenaline, but the person who had been acting scared earlier suddenly lush out. "What the fuck are yo--"

Smack!

Oh geez--can’t you read the room? I clicked my tongue and wiggled my fingers. "No bad language; don’t you know I’m pregnant?"

He made an incredulous face, but I couldn’t care less at that point. I was done with this nightmare; whether he would slowly die from excrement poisoning or fess up some more to get a swifter death, it would be his own choice to make.

Since I had no business there anymore, I turned around to leave the dungeon. "Oh," but I remembered this phrase I’d like to use at least once in my life, so I glanced at the cell first. "Eat shit, Nameless Nightmare."

I should never say this in front of my children, but the nightmare furious, despairing wail as I walked out of the dungeon with Natha sounded so satisfying.

* * *

"You said no bad language," Natha whispered on our way out.

Oh! I gasped with wide eyes, and Natha chuckled while taking my hand in his. I bit my cheek in embarrassment and asked him sheepishly. "Did I do good?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"I’m satisfied," Natha nodded. "If it was me, I would just end up killing him right away. That’d be too quick."

"Hehe..."

I knew it was weird to feel bashful and joyful right after deciding someone’s worst fate, but what could I do? My steps just automatically got lighter and I almost skipped around, prompting Natha to hold my hand so I wouldn’t suddenly trip in this dimlit dungeon.

"You are your Grandpa’s grandson," Natha stroked my cheek before grabbing my hand.

"You didn’t even know him," I scoffed. Grandpa had already died when Natha met me for the first time.

"But you told me a lot about him, remember?"

Did I? He pinched my nose and I couldn’t help but giggle at the memory. But then, at the end of the corridor leading to the first-level stairs, I stopped to exclaim. "Oh!"

"What?"

I pulled him down and whispered worriedly. "You can’t tell Jade anything about it, okay? I don’t want Jade to learn bad things from me."

His lips curled on one side. "Just from you?"

"From anyone!"

He started to laugh, but then abruptly stopped when he looked at the bottom of the stairs. I blinked and followed his gaze, catching the sight of a familiar figure.

"Huh--Angwi?"