The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 23: Battle of morals always ended up in guilty conscience

The reason why I was in this stressful predicament was basically due to that trait of his—his ability to sense thought. So my instinct as a human being seeking survival was to find out how I could bypass that system next time.

Would that be possible? Who knew.

I just thought that if I could gain a better understanding of that ability, then perhaps I could find the backdoor.

Which was why I braced myself to open the door that had always stayed closed even during his visit.

Strangely enough, the room didn’t feel stale or dusty, as if it was properly maintained on daily basis. But after closing the door and standing still in front of the entrance for a while to observe the room, I realized that there was perseverance and maintenance magic installed, much like the library.

It was quite spacious, at least by my standard, and filled with tasteful furniture of hard, luxurious timber polished to elegance. It could be said to be quite plain, probably intentionally to not become a distraction. The floor was even covered with dark-colored carpet that absorbed the sound of my step. Bookcases covered two sides of the wall, while a sitting area was neatly set up in front of the empty fireplace. Lastly, a large desk stood in front of the large window that would shower the room with sunlight had the curtain was drawn.

For now, the room was dark. But as I tried to adjust my eyes, the magic lamp overhead lit up on its own, as if welcoming me. It was an automatic system that will shed a light if people were to come inside, it seemed.

I couldn’t help but chuckled—for the classic vibe it gave me, the room sure had quite a modern feel to it.

Jade was chirping in shock at the sudden light that I had to calm the little bird for a while. But aside from the magic lamp, there was nothing weird or strange inside the room at all. For the most part, it didn’t seem like Natha used this room much anymore. Everything was neat as if the owner hadn’t touched it for long.

Well, considering he had a Lord Castle to live in, everything that was here probably only relevant to the era before he became the Demon Lord of Greed.

But that was good, wasn’t it? If I wanted to know anything about him or the source of his power, I had to search from the roots.

I was kinda curious too, as to how he became a filthy rich demon. No—if I was to be exact, Natha was the wealthiest demon in the entire kingdom.

But that wasn’t my priority!

"Alright, Jade, you should know how to do it, right?" I took the little bird from his nest on my head and stared at it. The cute little head nuzzled on my palm before chirping energetically and flying off with its barely visible wings—well, it flew with magic rather than anatomy anyway.

For the past few days since we became partners, I had been constantly injecting my mana into the little bird. It also served as a practice for me to regulate my mana following my repaired circuit. The more ’feed’ I gave the bird, the stronger our bond felt, and I could ’converse’ with Jade better.

Like telling the little bird to be my ’detector’.

Since it would probably take me a lot of time if I had to peruse all the stuff in this room—from the books to the drawers—one by one, I told Jade to search for the place with the most ’mana’.

Living beings expelled mana in every activity, just like we expelled carbon dioxide or sweat. The difference would be that mana lingered. Especially in the stuff that was being used often.

So I tried to trace those ’mana footprints’ left by the Demon Lord. It could be done by concentrating my mana on my eyes, and they would be able to see these leftover traces like a fog, or glowing residue—depending on the intensity.

As I tried this, however, I couldn’t really find anything significant. Books had the trace in all of them, but even as I looked upon the ones with the densest trace, it was mostly theoretical books on economics and politics. There were also books about the human realm and the children of nature, but nothing that seemed to be a gateway for me to find out more about the Demon Lord’s ability.

Well, in the first place, I didn’t have any real hope that I could find anything. Even if Natha somehow studied more about his trait, would someone like him carelessly put it into writing—

*kwaa*

Jade suddenly made a high pitch sound as I put the book in my hand into its slot. The little bird was jumping over a cabinet. Admittedly, I sense nothing special from the drawers, but I took Jade because it was more sensitive to mana in the first place, so I had trust in the little guy’s judgment.

"Here?" I knock on the cabinet placed not far from the fireplace, and the little bird flew toward the second bottommost drawer, kicking it with its tiny foot.

I tried to open it, and fortunately, there was no lock to serve as my obstacle. The drawers were filled with papers and parchments, also a few stationary. It was only after I pulled the drawer open that I saw it—a small notebook glowing with dense ’manaprints’ at the very back of the drawer.

As I took the notebook, Jade was chirping enthusiastically, so it seemed like I made the right harvest.

The notebook itself was a plain one with a leathered cover. A small engraving of the demon letter ’N’ was on the bottom right corner of the front cover, and my heart thumped for a little bit, because it seemed like I got the Demon Lord’s notebook after all.

Slowly, I opened the notebook to take a little glimpse at the first page, just to know what kind of book it was. As I looked at the page, I was glad I worked hard on learning the demon language. It took me a while to read it since I was still not completely fluent, but the writing itself was done in a simple, youthful way.

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[Day 6, Month 7, Year 1766

Mother told me I have to make a journal to record what I witness and sense after I awakened the ’blessing’.

She said it will help me from succumbing to madness.

Why would it be called a blessing if it might drive someone mad? Still, there’s no harm in doing it, so might as well.]

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Dear me!

I closed the notebook so fast Jade was rolling down on the soft ground from the aftershock. But I couldn’t afford to pay attention to the little guy as I stared at the notebook.

Or rather...wasn’t this a diary?

Could I...read this? Just from the first entry, I could tell that it was most likely related to his trait—the very thing I was looking for.

But I couldn’t just grab my fist and yelled "Jackpot!" with my conscience playing off the fact that I was holding on to someone’s diary. It should be morally wrong...right? To take a peek at this?

But he also said that there was nothing he would hide from his bride—me!—so wouldn’t that be alright?

—but it was still a bit icky, isn’t it?

But then again, it also stated that this was a record for things related to his ’blessing’ so technically, it was more like a journal or even research note...right?

Right??

I stared at the little feather ball that was struggling to get back on its feet on the carpet. My eyes darted to our surroundings then, which were obviously deserted.

And so, biting my lips, I stood up and threw myself to one of the chairs in the sitting area, Jade waddling and flying into my lap.

Taking a deep breath, my hands slowly worked on opening the notebook’s pages—cursing my curiosity and profusely apologizing to the faraway Demon Lord.

Right, I had resolved myself to screw up anyway. So I steeled my mind and started reading.

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[Day 7, Month 7, Year 1766

Who knows a servant could be this vicious?

The man in charge of me always smiled so friendly, and looked so loyal. He thinks I’m a freak.

The cooks are nice though, they are filled with the thought of food.

The gardener is funny, he thinks more about fertilizer than his own meal.

The guards are bored, want some action.

The butler hated me. And some of the footmen.

Some of the maids are crazy I think. They wanted to do something to me—you know what, I can’t write it down in case mother read this.]

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It started with his description of the thought he sensed from the servants in his house. It felt like a list, day by day filled with each servant’s thoughts, whether it was about him or anything else.

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[Day 20, Month 7, Year 1766

There will be a new batch of knights coming in for extra security on mother’s birthday banquet, and the servants were busy with various thoughts.

I felt dizzy.

So many swirling thoughts, so many emotions. They are loud. Annoyed smiling face. Angry smiling face.

Everything is confusing.

Mother said I can’t run away. She had me stand in the hall where it was the most crowded. Feeling nauseous.

Someone wants me dead. Who?]

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What...kind of development is this?

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[Day 22, Month 7, Year 1766

It’s one of the new guards. He hates me. Hates my mother too. Hates my whole family, I think. More than the butler and the footmen. I had never felt that much hatred directed at me.

Mother said it’s jealousy. I don’t think that’s it. The hatred felt more sinister.

But she said I’ll have a lot of people hate me from now on, so I might as well prepare for it.

Why though? Why people I never met would hate me? Is it because of this pattern on my body? Because of the blessing I received?

The banquet is tonight, and I don’t know if I can survive it without throwing up.]

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I wondered how old he was at that time. If Valmeier’s memory was correct, today was the Year 1838, so this should be 72 years before.

Hmm, he might be in his teens? I flipped another page and froze.

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[Day 27, Month 7, 1766

I didn’t know if I should go with this still. But since I still have this book even as I fled from the mansion, I probably should.

I heard that guard and the butler was arrested but died on the way. Couldn’t know the real mastermind behind the birthday massacre then.

Maybe...If I just gritted my teeth instead of running away from the hall, If I tough it up, I would be able to discern something amiss.

What’s the point of having this so-called blessing if I can’t use it at a crucial time?

Day 31, Month 7, Year 1766

Great-Aunt said I shouldn’t attend mother’s funeral, since that guy will send people to attack me too.

She didn’t mention it, but I sense it still—those people came for me. Their real objective at that banquet was me.

I still don’t know why.

Day 1, Month 8, Year 1766

I read about the funeral in the paper.

Great-Aunt thought was spelling ’oracle’ over and over again. At one point, she looked at me.

She wants to protect me. I felt grateful. But what she wants to protect isn’t me.

It’s the oracle concerning me.]

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I lifted my gaze from the book, and stared blankly at the empty air. Jade had been headbutting me for a while since earlier. Perhaps because it sensed the spiking of my heart rate, or the goosebumps that appeared all over my skin.

I was coming here to know more about the skill that he had, but I never thought it would be opened with a tragedy.

His slightly forlorn face as he talked about his trait came into my mind, and instead of an answer, I was drowned in deeper guilt.