The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 605: No better place than home

"Only a stagecoach?"

Bad news came when we had our breakfast on top of a swaying boat that worked as a restaurant. Jin and Renna had come out early in the morning to look for a carriage, but they returned reporting that they couldn’t find one.

The only thing they could find was an extra stagecoach belonging to the only merchant who would go to the nearest city. They were not willing to sell the stagecoach, but said we could come with them to the city if we protected them on the way--you know, standard mercenary stuff.

We were lucky, however, because that city was on the way to our destination. Well, we weren’t going to enter the city per se--only pass by it--but it was fine. We could try to find or buy another transportation mode in that city, and an escorting mission was a good disguise.

"It’ll be a two-day journey if there’s no major obstruction," Jin said.

"Oof," Zarga grimaced and looked at me. "That’ll be rough, Val."

"...why?"

"It’s like riding a roller coaster--well, not that extreme, but for two days straight..." she gave me a pitying look. "It would be nauseating for a first-timer."

Suddenly, a flash of memory came to my mind as I recalled the early days of my transmigration. As a neglected soldier, I had to return to the capital in a stagecoach and...

I grasped my head in reflex as I felt squeamish just from remembering it. So it wouldn’t exactly be the first time for me, but at that time, I felt so miserable that I swore I would rather walk the next time I had to ride another one. It was funny that the only reason I got through it was because my body was in too much pain to care about the nausea.

"Yeah, I don’t think you’ll survive this, Boss..." Aina patted my back. "Not when you always ride a luxurious carriage all this time."

Fuck this adventure shit. Why did I romanticize it in the first place?!

Oh, that was because Natha looked hot in adventurer gear. Damn, this horny mind of mine!

"Hmm...why don’t you take this time to return and see your son?"

I raised my head and widened my eyes at Zarfa’s suggestion. She smiled and reached out to rub my slightly swollen undereye.

"You miss him terribly, don’t you?"

"Can I...can I really?"

She laughed and squeezed my cheeks in response. "There won’t be much to do while we’re on our way, anyway--except if there’s a bandit, but Jin can easily take care of that," she shrugged. "Rather than having Jade and Ignis whine about the journey being boring while you are constantly throwing up, you should just go see your son."

I blinked and turned toward the others, who nodded in support--except for Renna, who only found out I had a son and was staring at me dumbfoundedly with parted lips.

"Besides, once we reach the church, we don’t know if you’ll have a chance to go back and forth again," Zarfa added. "So just use the chance well."

Ugh...I guess? It just made me feel rather guilty because I felt like leaving them during the most uncomfortable part of the journey.

[Papa, we going home?] Jade raised from the jelly plate and flapped the colorful wings enthusiastically. [Jade will see Shwa??]

To hell with feeling guilty.

"Thank you," I grabbed Zarfa’s hands and glanced at the chain circling her neck, which was connected to one of the teleportation tokens. "I’ll be back in two days."

"Just make sure you come back at night--you know, so people won’t get startled," she grinned.

I nodded and, after handing over the remaining ingredients to Aina and the money pouch to Zarfa, I left the boat while waving my hand. Looking for a secluded place wasn’t hard, and I immediately poured my mana into the token in my hand after Jade and Ignis slipped behind my coat.

"Here we go--"

My voice disappeared into the hollow space as the sensation of being pulled harshly by my stomach enveloped me. Ugh--I closed my eyes as I felt like being rushed through a narrow tunnel, with mana pressuring my whole body. I felt like getting trapped in a whirlpool that stretched from one side of the sea to the other--couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything.

Damn--this one felt like riding a roller coaster too.

But at least, it didn’t go for two days. If I count it properly, the whole process probably went for less than five minutes. Definitely not instantaneous, but considering the distance, it was pretty good, right?

After feeling dragged backward for almost five minutes, the sensation stopped suddenly and turned into a shove. I found myself stumbling forward as my corporeal body found the ground again, but fortunately, a pair of cold arms caught me before my face kissed the hard floor.

I gasped and filled my lungs with air again after the breathless teleportation. But as I looked up and saw Natha’s startled face, I forgot about breathing and brought my lips to his, pressing hard and eagerly. His hands moved from my arms to my head and back, and I felt like drowning again--only this time, it was drowning in his sweet, soothing cold.

At least, until I heard the sound of throat-clearing and I realized Natha was in the middle of a meeting with the city’s stakeholders. We weren’t even in the Castle, apparently.

Oops.

Natha chuckled while Lesta--who had cleared his throat earlier--adjourned the meeting for five minutes. My husband wasted no time to carry me out of the meeting room while I stifled my embarrassed giggle at his shoulder.

"I’m sorry!" I apologize immediately, but while giggling, when he stepped into the nearest empty room he could find.

I forgot about the slight time difference, and that it was already working hours for Natha on this side. But, well...I didn’t think I would be able to help myself even if I knew. It just has been so long--well, it was a week, but long enough--and I just wanted to feel him right away.

I didn’t even consider the fact that Jade and Ignis were still attached to me.

"I’d do it first if you didn’t," Natha curled his lips and kissed me again, softly this time. He pulled me close in an embrace and traced my face with his lips, ending it with a deep inhale on the crook of my neck. "I missed you so much."

And I cried about him every night, but I didn’t want to make him worry, so I just kissed him again until my companions protested vehemently.

[Jade want to see Shwa!] the little bird chirped loudly before jumping off my shoulder and landed as a boy. "Papa said we home to see Shwa!"

Natha didn’t even look annoyed. He smirked and stroked the boy’s hair while calling out for Caba, ordering the were beast to get a carriage. "I’d like to go with you, but as you can see..." he glanced in the direction of the meeting room while picking up Jade--who, despite the impatience earlier, accepted it without protest.

"Busy?"

"Just a few adjustments I need to make for..." he paused for a bit before continuing with a chuckle. "I’ll tell you later since we don’t have much time now."

"Can’t have Lesta throw a tantrum," I giggled.

"Nope," Natha agreed. "Can’t have him on a strike."

When Caba returned, I sadly bid my farewell to Natha, and hopped on the carriage to the Castle. But all the sadness evaporated the moment I laid eyes on my baby, who was on his way back from a little walk in the garden with Angwi.

"My baby! My sweet flower!" I doused myself in a purifying mana as I ran through the pathway, making sure I was clean before holding him and kissing his pink cheeks. Shwa giggled and slapped my cheeks with palpable excitement as I showered his face with kisses. "Do you miss me? Do you miss your Papa, Shwa? I missed you so much, baby."

"Angwi! Angwi! Carry Jade!"

Angwi smiled and picked up the little boy so he could also see Shwa, and our baby smiled wider, giggling cheerfully as we walked back to the Castle together.

"Young Master Navardhi never laughed like that with us," the other nanny told us with a playful sigh. "He didn’t even laugh like that with His Lordship."

"His Lordship was so sad," another nanny chimed in, laughing softly. "Young Master must have been missing you, Sir."

"Oh, my~ is that so, baby?" I tickled the stomach which seemed to get nicely chubbier in the week I had been gone. "I have a looot of things to talk about with you. Let’s wait for your father and have a family talk again, ’kay?"

"Jade too! With Jade too!" the little boy waved his hands in Angwi’s embrace. "Jade have lots of story too!"

I laughed and stroked the swaying green head, feeling so relaxed and detached from the chasing case we had experienced for the past few days. "Alright, then--let’s have a slumber party again tonight."