Ventorino Kingdom - The Witch and Reunion (5)
Jolt.
The carriage rocked lightly.
"Hmph."
"...Creepy."
-Tch. ...I’m sorry.
“……”
“……”
“……”
The air was heavy.
Rachel was only now coming to understand just what that meant, in the most desperate, visceral way.
She felt as if the atmosphere itself were crushing down on her, making her head swim. She couldn’t tell whether it was mana causing this or simply the pressure of the mood, but her stomach had started to churn as well.
And, just a little, she was afraid.
If the source of this momentum was the former, then just how strong was that beauty in front of her? If it was the latter, then what kind of life had she lived to create such an overwhelming presence? Not even the nobles Rachel had seen in the pleasure district exuded anything close to this dreadful weight.
A ruler.
Maybe not at other times, but for this moment alone, that word seemed to belong only to her.
"...Hey, Demon King, why are you so angry?"
In the end, Valdes couldn’t stand it any longer and spoke first.
He judged it the right move. If things went on like this, Rachel would probably be the first one to pass out.
“Do you not know why I’m angry, my son?”
"Yeah. It’s not like we haven’t spoken in days, and the last time we met, we parted normally."
“……”
"And you’re angry at me, so it doesn’t seem like it’s about the heroes..."
“...Heroes? What are you talking about?”
"So that’s not it either."
The demons had no easy way to learn of heroes. Whether a hero was summoned or chosen through divine revelation, the process began in the Holy Kingdom. But that was also the place most difficult for demonic spies to infiltrate. If they made up their minds to keep it secret, the demons had no way of knowing.
Nodding, he relayed to the Demon King the information Beatrice had given him.
About the two heroes summoned to the Holy Kingdom’s papal court.
Of course, Beatrice herself knew very little, but even being able to hear news of the heroes in advance was a tremendous advantage to them. As a bonus, the woman who had distinguished herself so greatly had also subtly hinted that she wanted a child, though that had been out of the question.
"Two heroes... That is rather alarming."
"But if they need training, then they can’t be that strong yet. I don’t know what they’ll be like later."
"That changes the plan drastically."
"That side’s fine. I’ve already thought of something."
"Is that so? That’s a relief. Still..."
"Don’t worry so much. Sure, they’ve got two heroes over there, but we’ve got two Demon Kings on this side, don’t we?"
At Valdes’s words, the Demon King’s eyes widened slightly before a gentle smile spread across her face.
He was right.
In terms of strength and in terms of position, the demons might as well have had two Demon Kings. That was how high Valdes, the Demon Prince, had risen. In a normal nation, a king might have grown uneasy as his heir gained more and more authority, but the Demon King was not like that. She was simply happy.
"Then back to the point—why are you angry?"
“……”
The beautiful smile vanished again from the Demon King’s face. But this time, her expression was subtly different from before. There was anger in it, yes, but also the effort to suppress that anger.
Something must have happened on the way here, he thought. “Hmm. Something related to me, then...”
After a brief moment of thought, he leaned closer to the Demon King, who sat there with her arms folded, and kissed her before she could react.
"...!"
Their lips touched for only a very short time.
A bird kiss, like a peck from a beak.
It was the kind of unsatisfying kiss that left lovers wanting more rather than content.
And besides, it had been nearly two or three months since they had last met in person. A kiss after such a long separation was bound to feel lacking.
Affection and longing pushed the anger out of the Demon King’s eyes and filled the space it had occupied.
"My son..."
"Haha. Well, since I don’t seem to have done anything on purpose, and I don’t know anything about it either... let’s just enjoy being together after all this time."
"You really are... so underhanded."
"Do you hate that?"
"Fufu, of course not."
The smile returned to the Demon King’s face. Meeting each other’s eyes and exchanging their feelings of affection, Valdes and the Demon King resumed kissing. Their lips shared warmth with one another.
Smack. Smack. Smack. Mwah. Smack.
It was the same birdlike kiss as before. But it didn’t end with just one. Like real birds pecking food from beak to beak, the two of them pressed their lips together in short bursts, savoring their private time.
Irena watched the scene with a pleased expression, while Yueli’s face was full of discontent. She knew, and could feel, just how much Valdes loved the Demon King. That was why, in order to curry favor with her, he had even scolded the spirit over the slightest jostle of the carriage.
Still, it was hard not to feel disappointed.
Rachel now knew about their relationship, so even if they couldn’t go all the way and indulge in sex that wouldn’t be good for her education, she had believed that at least they could get away with some kissing and other physical affection. That was why, the night before, she had even asked the girl who had been secretly peeking in to come inside and watch.
In the end Rachel had gone back, but still, Yueli had thought they could at least manage a little skinship—until the strongest rival of all had appeared.
"Ah, my grand plan..."
"Uh, Yueli unni?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Is that woman... the Demon King?"
"That’s right. And my master’s first wife, too. I’m insanely jealous, honestly."
"Wow..."
Rachel let out an impressed breath.
To survive, she had become adept at reading other people’s emotions. Even with that ability, she could tell that those two were truly in love. The way Valdes looked at the Demon King was even deeper than the way he looked at Irena.
"That’s amazing."
"It is, isn’t it? The love of a hero and a Demon King."
"......"
The girl almost said that wasn’t what she meant, then stopped herself. Based on everything she had experienced so far, she knew perfectly well that Yueli would never listen even if she explained.
"Haah, do you feel better now?"
“……”
After exchanging kisses more than a hundred times and feeling much better, the Demon King thought it over.
She couldn’t stay here long. For now, they were still outside the kingdom’s capital, and the various magical spells hanging over the carriage concealed her power, but the closer they got to the capital, the greater the chance of being discovered. As a demon, her innate strength was not something that could be hidden so easily.
Valdes’s power was based on the sword, and he was skilled at concealing his aura, but the Demon King had never needed to hide her strength, so subtle control and similar techniques were impossible for her.
On top of that, she had to return soon to deal with the mountain of delayed work waiting for her. There was a great deal to handle if the war preparations were to proceed properly, not to mention the operations Valdes had requested.
"I will return in three days."
"Three days? Hmm. If you’d told me earlier, I would’ve met you near the border instead."
"It’s fine, my son. Thanks to this, I learned something new."
"Something new?"
Ignoring Valdes’s puzzled look, the Demon King pulled a magic tool from her bosom. She set a tiny crystal orb on the floor and fed mana into it, triggering a powerful spatial spell. In an instant, the pair were isolated from their surroundings, and the space around them expanded.
It was a spell that expanded space, the kind the Great Witch had used in her own home. Here, she had even created a private space of their own. Outside, a barrier would probably be cast around the carriage, making it impossible to see inside.
"This is..."
"Fufu. My spatial magic hasn’t reached this level yet, so I brought it along."
"You must have taken it from the Demon Castle’s treasury. You had something important to say?"
“……”
The Demon King gazed at him in silence, unable to bring herself to speak right away.
She had no idea how to broach the subject.
According to the red-haired girl they had met at the border of the Ventorino Kingdom, Valdes clearly knew nothing about her existence. If that was the case, she couldn’t exactly bring it up like an interrogation.
She couldn’t even get angry. The kisses from just now had already soothed her mood completely. But unless she brought this up, the conversation would go nowhere.
After a long moment of hesitation, the Demon King took both of Valdes’s cheeks in her hands and asked,
"About children... what do you think?"
"A child? Why all of a sudden...? Don’t tell me you came all the way here because you want to have one?"
The Demon King’s brow furrowed.
"Do you really think I came this far for nothing but that?"
"No?"
"...W-Well, I do want one, of course... but more than that, I came because I wanted to see my son. ...At first."
"At first."
Valdes repeated the last words she had said.
Honestly, he had thought it possible that the Demon King might come to see him because she couldn’t bear the loneliness. Having spent nearly eighteen years side by side every day, he knew better than anyone how lonely she could get. Of course, he hadn’t expected her to come this quickly, and without any warning at all.
Still, judging from the fact that she had added at first, something had clearly happened in the middle.
"Hmm, did you happen to see some happy little family on the way here?"
"Something worse than that. My son... do you know the name Sasha?"
"Sasha? Sasha... Sasha?"
It wasn’t a name that immediately rang a bell. In the Dezak Empire, Sasha was a fairly common name, given to both men and women among the commoners. But there didn’t seem to be anyone important around him with that name.
"Someone from the days before you became Valdes? Back when you were Pedro?"
"...No, never mind. Then..."
"Yes."
"What about a woman named Anna?"
"Anna? That one too... Ah, I’m not sure if this is right, but during my mercenary days there was a woman named that... and... ah..."
Valdes’s face went pale.
When he had been Pedro, he had met countless people as both a mercenary and a hero. Naturally, he couldn’t remember every single one of them, but there were three kinds of people he would never forget.
Enemies, rivals, and women he had bedded even once.
A woman named Anna was, of course, the third kind.
The Demon King bringing up the name of a woman from his past one-night stands, a name he was hearing for the first time in ages, while also talking about wanting a child—there was no way he was stupid enough not to understand what was going on.
"Uh, th-th... really?"
"She was quite a lot like my son. The deep red hair, the shape of her eyes, even the slight dimple that appeared when she smiled."
“……”
"It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a very long time. I had never felt much jealousy toward my son’s other women, and yet I found myself hating a woman I had never even seen."
"Ha... haha, ha..."
It was chilling.
The Demon King’s gaze struck his face like a blade.
Now he understood why she had unfolded this isolated expanded space. And why she had said she would return in three days. Most likely, the barrier around them would not be lifted once during that time.
She was serious.
"......"
"...Will you be all right?"
"Fufu, and why would I not be?"
Pregnancy was an extremely dangerous thing for demons.
It was hard on men too, but especially on female demons. A demon carrying a child had their strength continuously siphoned away by the baby in their womb. Naturally, that burden only increased the stronger the demon was. At the level of the Demon King, the damage would surely be especially severe.
For that reason, female demons who wanted to become pregnant were rare, and this also contributed to the race’s low birthrate.
"You haven’t recovered your strength yet, and there’ll be a war within two years."
"Even if I must bear all of that, I still want my son’s child. I want to become pregnant. Do you dislike that, my son?"
"Of course not. I’ll end the war before the child is even born."
"Fufu, that is why you are my husband."
The two of them kissed.
This time, they didn’t pull apart right away. They shared a deep, rich kiss, as if to taste once more the flavor of each other’s tongues and saliva, both of which they had been setting aside at the back of their minds for so long.
"Hngh, mm... chuup... haa..."
Especially the Demon King, who clamped both hands around Valdes’s face and seemed intent on never letting him go as she devoured his lips and tongue.
Even when Valdes tried to pause for a moment, she clung to him stubbornly. She sucked lightly at his lips, then nipped at them here and there, savoring the soft flesh of his upper and lower lips. At the same time, like an animal proving that this man’s lips belonged to her, she smeared them with saliva in a sloppy, possessive mess.
After tasting his lips for several tens of minutes, the Demon King finally moved on to his tongue. More precisely, it was Valdes, unable to hold back any longer, who slid his tongue into her mouth. The Demon King shivered briefly, startled, then soon relaxed, letting him do as he pleased.
"Haa, mm, churlp, chup, chuuup... heeh, hn, haahng─♥"
Not as soft as her lips, but supple enough with a pleasant elasticity, their tongues tangled together inside the Demon King’s mouth.
Valdes flexed his tongue smoothly, exploring every corner of her mouth. The place he tasted after so long seemed to bend itself to his tongue as if it had been made for him. Each time he touched the oral sweet spots that, as always, welcomed him, the Demon King trembled softly in response.
The three days had been set by the Demon King herself.
It was a short time if all they did was stay together, but for sex alone it was more than enough.
Knowing that well, the Demon King was already investing a long time into kissing just as foreplay. Yet despite her feelings, her body behaved like a bitch in heat.
Before long, the Demon King’s arms and legs were clinging tightly all over Valdes’s body.
"Hngh, h, hhaah... ah, son, son, son, my sonnn...♥"
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