The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 665: Even a stick become a carrot in front of a tougher stick

Chapter 665: Even a stick become a carrot in front of a tougher stick

The last thing we needed to do before we launched the fishing operation was the actors.

And no, I wasn’t just talking about the one who would play as me. In the first place, there was no need to doubt a shapeshifter’s ability; they were born as natural actors. I bet they would end up in an actor’s body if they were to be transmigrated to Earth.

But--and it was a big but--they weren’t the only ones who needed to act. The spear, which was supposed to be sentient, needed to act too.

And that was why we needed a magician to remote-control it. To be more exact--the spear needed to be moved the way Alveitya could move.

"So, you are sending Tsalinade here?"

"Why should you be the one coming to her? She should be the one going where her Master told her to," Natha scoffed.

Uhh...but I always did that? I asked Heraz to inform her that I wanted her to meet me in this place or that place. It was just I only set the meeting in the Human Realm, so naturally, I had to go to the Human Realm too.

I mean...wouldn’t it be complicated for her to come to the Demon Realm? It wasn’t like we had an open border that could grant visas.

"It doesn’t matter because she’ll be considered your property," Natha said with finality--and it was final because I caught myself in a bad coughing spree because of that.

Please do not misunderstand him. He was just angry, okay? He wasn’t usually an advocate for...uhh, slavery or something. He was the one who abolished it when he became the Lord, okay? Okay?!

Phew.

At any rate, Heraz brought Tsalinade through the portal that Zarfa usually used, and took her under strict secrecy to one of the Castle’s rooms. No, it wasn’t anywhere near the Lord’s quarters--Natha didn’t like the idea of bringing her near our baby. Initially, we would take her to the Lair, but the Castle was closer, and Natha said he was waiting for another item to arrive that day.

I wonder what it was.

"So, this is the one who dropped my sweetheart into a lake?" was Natha’s opening speech.

Tsalinade, rightly so, was pale and trembling. So much so that I felt kind of bad for her. There was still a trace of haughtiness during our meetings before, perhaps because it was all transactional for her until she got fully healed from her affliction.

But that haughtiness vanished from her in front of the embodiment of fear. It wasn’t her first time meeting Natha, but it was her first time seeing him in his full Demon Lord’s glory. He did not even bother to suppress his fear factor, making not only Tsalinade but also the crew who brought her shiver.

But then again, a human would normally feel scared when they end up in a Demon Realm without any form of support, so...

"I...I’m sorry...I didn’t know hi--I didn’t know Master was in the group..."

Fair enough.

"I don’t care," Natha said dismissively while tapping on the armrest. "You still separate him from the rest of them as a means of intimidation."

And he said it with a tone someone used when they were shrugging. Basically just saying ’don’t care, just don’t like you, whatever’ kind of stuff.

Hmm...he seemed to have been waiting for a reason to do this for a long time.

"I--I swear I’ll serve him well from now on!" Tsalinade replied quickly, but unfortunately for her, it was the wrong kind of response.

"And why are you saying it to me when my sweetheart is over there?" the silver eyes narrowed coldly. "Also, are you saying that you haven’t been serving him well until now?"

See?

"I...that’s not..." Tsalinade stuttered and trembled even more. "I mean...I’ll serve him even better--yes!--even better than ever! My best! I will do my best!"

Haa...she still didn’t get it. And Natha was happy that she didn’t get it. If Tsalinade had said it to me right away, perhaps with a little groveling--no matter how fake or theatrical it got--he would have to act softer.

But she kept giving him reasons.

At that moment, Lesta entered the room with a piece of paper in his hand. It was some kind of telegram from the intelligence department.

"The item is here," he informed Natha and gave him the piece of paper. "I put it in the basement as instructed."

"Oh, what a timing," Natha stood up and clapped his hand once.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"The living corpse of the man who called you pretty," Natha said with a charming smile.

Oh, I forgot about the whole necromancy-soulmancy thing because I was focused on making the props. But it had only been five days since we got the news, so that was really fast. Heraz and his team must have been pulling in extra hard work for this.

"Oh! Oh! Natha going to do stomping? Jade want too!" the little boy who came with me jumped up and down. "Jade want to burn it too!"

Whoa, whoa, whoa--I grabbed my firstborn and shook my head strongly. "Nope! You can’t go, Jade."

"Why?" Jade pursed his lips.

Uhh...what should I tell this kid? I couldn’t say violence is bad because it was too late already to impart that kind of thing. "It’s...disgusting," I whispered. "It’s already dead, and the skin is rotting. Eww."

"Eww!" Jade shuddered and hugged me in disgust. "Jade don’t like disgust thing!"

"Right? So stay here. The zombie is Natha’s plaything anyway."

Natha chuckled briefly before snapping his fingers and pointing at Tsalinade. "Come, magician. I’ll show you what will happen to people who think my sweetheart is easy."

It didn’t take high imagination to understand what Natha was implying, so Tsalinade immediately turned in my direction. "M-Master..."

Ah, you did it too late. Picking up Jade in my arms--who was still struggling with zombie imagery--I could only give her a piece of friendly advice. "Just get on with it. You’ll only incur more of his wrath if you search for a way out."

"B-but..." Tsalinade looked back and forth between me and the door, but the two agents who brought her here were already behind her, ready to drag her to compliance.

"Don’t worry too much," I gave her my sweetest smile. "He won’t be too hard on you, since you’re still useful to me."

"N-no--wait!"

"Bye~"

I waved at her retreating figure, which was getting dragged by the agents, before turning around to face the other half of the agents who came--Heraz and another one.

The actor who would play as Valmeier.

The moment I turned around, the shapeshifter opened his cloak, and damn...it was like looking at a mirror that showed me my past self. Jade gasped and whispered. "That one look like Master when Jade a baby, but...but...umm...worse!"

Pfft--he finally admitted that he was a baby once. "Of course, Jade. When I gave my essence to you, Natha already healed me a little bit, and Angwi had fed me a lot of food."

"Is this satisfactory, Young Master?" Heraz asked.

"Mm, yes. I don’t think they’ll remember too many details anyway. Oh--but please don’t copy my current mannerisms. I was...very different in the past," I grinned awkwardly.

While those people wouldn’t know me that well, they would know Valmeier’s general aloofness and lack of expression. It would be weird if they saw ’Valen’ and not ’Valmeier’, would it?

"Don’t worry, Young Master. This person is one of the agents placed in Lenaar during wartime," Heraz explained. "While we had stopped watching you closely ever since the--ahem--incident with His Lordship, we knew how you used to act."

"O-oh..."

I smiled wryly, feeling like they might expose me for fraud any second. Ugh, whatever--it wasn’t like they would turn on me even if they knew I was like the other half of Valmeier. "Ahem," I cleared my throat and asked the agent. "Do you also know the spear art I use?"

"I can use a spear, but...copying you would be impossible, Young Master," the agents said. "However, if you could show me your movement, I’m sure I’ll be able to copy it somewhat."

"Okay," I nodded. "They might not be able to tell--and we’re going to use Tsalinade for the spear anyway--but since we have some time before the replica is done, why don’t I show it to you in the arena?"

"That would be an honor."

And so, we headed to the arena while Natha was venting his frustration in the basement. I wouldn’t have much time because Shwa would wake up in two hours, but that should be enough for a few demonstrations. The shapeshifter would be able to perfect the copy after trying it for a few days until the Sacred Spear replica was done.

Naturally, the one most excited about it was Alveitya. It flew out of my arm before we even reached the arena and hovered over the training ground like a child in an amusement park.

Haa...I knew it had been used as a spear throughout the war, but...weren’t you supposed to be a scepter? Why so battle-thirsty?

"Oh, Young Master! Young Master is here!"

What I didn’t expect was the soldiers being exited too, which made my diva of a spear prancing around haughtily. For some reason, they even cheered when I gave the shapeshifter a rundown of Valmeier’s spear art. freeweɓnøvel.com

Unfortunately, it was impossible to infuse any priest art since the shapeshifter was a demon, but it didn’t matter. We could just pretend that Valemeir had discarded the priestly way or something. Whatever.

At the end of my exhibition, Natha and the others were already there, taking a break from the Lord’s fun time. And he did have fun, seeing that refreshing smile on his face.

As I approached them, the trembling Tsalinade scurried over and hid behind my legs, crouching.

"What’s wrong, Tsalinade?"

"Me," she replied shakily, eyes on the ground and full of dread. "I was the one in the wrong, Young Master. I...I didn’t realize how magnanimous you have been. Thank you...thank you..."

...wow. What did they do in that basement?