Uneasiness stirred in me, and I thought I had to get out of the room quickly.
The hero was stronger than I had expected. Even if the summoning happened too soon, I thought he wouldn’t have had the time to train.
The moment the hero became suspicious of Azel’s lack of pursuit was about the same time I stepped out to get away from him.
“Ha… J-Just put it in already…”
I was melting and out of breath. I had drunk a lot of the antidote, and it was also smeared all over my ass.
“I… I’m putting it in, okay?”
“Hurry it up, please…!”
I continued to eat poison, day after day. I already got used to it before I even knew it. No matter how strong the poison is, as long as you keep on receiving it even little by little, you will get used to it.
“Fwa… Hya… Tii… Ti… i.”
“Sugar, you’re so cute.”
After a year of eating poisoned meals three times a day, I grew up fast and had developed a tolerance for Di’s kisses… But, the paralytic and neurotic toxins were so strong that I couldn’t move my tongue, and my mind was so clouded that I couldn’t think straight.
Di had once poured a lot of poison into me in a hurry. It went so bad that I was unconscious for a while.
It didn’t take long for us to get from his office to the throne room.
Nothing particular happened on our way there, and of course, the same went for me.
I would’ve walked in, calm and collected, but Azel, standing in front of the door to the throne room, looked at me restlessly.
Doing a poker face was one of my strong points. But the fact that he looked at me like that meant that he must have sensed my unease.
—The door to the peaceful office suddenly slammed opened, and a cupbat jumped in.
“My lord! My lord! In throne room! Waiting! Please!”
“Hah? I’ve already given my audience this morning. I don’t wanna go back to that place until I’ve spent every last second of my precious time with Shal. What’s this all about?”
The cupbat, the Demon Lord’s underling and personal caretaker, fluttered around Azel and called out to him hurriedly.
The door was slammed shut. I guess that pretty much wrapped up the paperwork for today.
Reisen seemed to have a hard time wrapping his head around Azel’s behavior. Still, when I reported our relationship to him, he congratulated us so much, you know?
He was surprised to see us so close to each other when we returned after he sent us to do an inspection, but I found later that he had prepared a feast. He held my hand and told me to take care of the Demon Lord.
When I handed him his souvenir, he gave me a crystal with his own tail feathers in it as a gift.
So this is the famous phoenix tail…!
Currently, Azel was sitting at the study desk and I on his lap, checking and working on documents.
And Azel was hugging my waist and pampering me while signing and reading the documents, then using his magic to move the stamp and make his approvals.
It wasn’t nonsensical. After a great deal of deliberation, I figured this was the best and most efficient way to work.
Azel seemed to be busy hugging me with his cheeks flushed. Still, his eyes were swiftly reading, and he could control his magic to handle the documents without losing concentration.
—Demon Lord’s Castle: Office.
Two months had passed since we returned from our date… no, from the inspection at Svenmarina.
That would mean that it had been four months since I had been kept in the demon lord’s castle.
Time flew so fast. It was getting a bit cold at this time of the year. Autumn had already deepened, and winter was drawing near.
“—So, I ran away and was saved by the words of the hero I met in the human realm. And now, I’m a demon lord who is just one-hundred percent being himself. What d’you think? Do you rememb… eaah?! Shal?!”
“Nn, nngh… Oh, god. The world is so much kinder than it seems…”
After Azel finished sharing with me his precious memories, he slowly turned to me.
And at the same time, he saw me with tears flowing down and stood up, knocking over his chair with his face surprised.
I didn’t mean to startle him. I was the type of hero who could cry without sobbing noises. However, I felt a slight tingle in the back of my throat, knowing that Azel wouldn’t find it annoying.
But that story couldn’t be told nor heard without tears, right? Ah, god.
I sniffled.
My whole being was crying when I heard Azel’s recounting of the story.
In the present time, Azel was adored as the demon lord by everyone in the castle. He was acting in a dignified manner even in the city, emitting an aura of a ruler.
But, to think that in the past, he had a crushing struggle between the place where he belonged and his heart…!
Even though he seemed to have the strength to be unfazed by anything, he wasn’t like that from the beginning.
The reason behind his childish behavior, despite his appearance, was an understandable sad story.
Love and sadness poured out of my eyes, and I wanted to hug him right away.
“W-Woah, y-you’re cryi…?! A-Are you hurt?! Who did this to you!”
“Y… You did… Hh… Hic…”
“So, it’s me. I’ll kill myself.”
“Aaahhh!”
Wait, wait! Stop! Don’t kill yourself.
I reflexively grabbed the body that was suddenly about to run towards the sea and managed to hold it back.
For some reason, there was no light in Azel’s eyes. I mean, his eyes were too black as the dark night and somewhat lightless from the start, but now, they didn’t have light at all.
“D-Don’t do it, Azel…! You should have more fun and happiness from now on! Are you trying to make me a widow already…?!”
“?! I deserve to die for making you cry, but a widowed hero somehow sounds erotic… No, that’s not good! Men won’t leave you alone! I’ll live!”
“Yes. You’re beautiful!”
[T/N: *insert Princess Mononoke meme*]There was a lot of noise and commotion. Azel looked so serious and determined, so I clapped my hands and said bravo.
That, or it took a few minutes for Azel to sit down and for my tears to settle down.
Yeah. Certainly, I was a hero, and Azel was a demon lord. And we were certainly a new couple. Two grown men going all out.
In case you were wondering, we were the only customers in the cafe, so don’t worry. The circle without anyone else in it was now just like a fence, whereas the clerks were just lined up by the wall in case they were called at any time.
As I watched Azel soothe his overworked throat with coconut juice, I also put the rest of my fish in my stomach and drank some water. His mouth holding the straw was pouty. He looked cute.
—I was glad to know about Azel’s past.
Even the strongest demon lord who could do anything was troubled by something like that.
I knew that he was sensitive, timid, and not very good with emotions. That part of him was also unbearably endearing and attractive.
But… it wasn’t until I came to the demon realm that I learned about it. I couldn’t quite remember the events that Azel had mentioned.
I was the only hero named Shal in the human realm, and I always wore a black cloak when I did my missions to conceal myself from people, so I believed it was me. I was also the one in charge of disposing of any suspicious figures in the castle.
I definitely wouldn’t remember everything that happened in my life at the castle. Still, I wished I could’ve remembered the memories that Azel held so dearly and kept alive.
Why couldn’t I remember? Did I have amnesia or something? Did someone take my memory?
I felt painfully guilty, as if I was belittling Azel’s precious memories.
Seeing me like that, Azel placed his hand on my head.
Then, perhaps he was trying to pat me, but the hand above my head moved so poorly, it seemed like he was moving a computer mouse. It felt like my head was going to be clicked sooner or later.
“Y-You don’t have to remember. I swear that saved my life, and that’s why I was waiting for you to come and kill me. …From the beginning, I was thinking I’d capture you for losing. I wasn’t really sure how to tell you, so I just said it was for the… blood, but really, I just wanted you to be there for me like you were then.”
I squinted at the sensation of the weight on my head and gently watched Azel as he told me his reason for keeping me.
I never had anyone tell me the story behind something like that before.
I really thought I was kept as delicious food, so honestly, I was relieved deep inside right now.
Blood was also a part of me, but that alone may make him fall in love with people from another world. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have such anxiety deep inside.
Azel shouldn’t have known about my anxiety, but he had given me reassurance, my heart skipping a beat.
“I’m such a sly guy. Not to mention, it was a debt of gratitude that I had to pay, but… the more I got involved with you, the more I realized that I was being drawn to you as a person, day by day. I wanted to monopolize you. But… I had never been… in love before, so I didn’t immediately recognize the feelings that had changed… It was really uncool of me to have let you step in and tell me everything. I’m really not very good at this kind of thing.”
“Hm… I’ve never had the idea of falling in love with a man, so I also didn’t even realize despite us having touched each other so much. When I had collected myself, I thought that I wouldn’t have let you do that to me unless you were someone I was interested in… We’re both uncool, don’t you think?”
“You’re a god…”
The hand that had been patting me was instantly brought together, and he worshipped me with a straight face.
No, I’m not a god. I’m your lover, albeit an unworthy one.
I gently ran my own hand over Azel’s joined hands as he prayed.
I caressed it and stared at him. Azel turned his face away, but his eyes were still looking at me.
Entwined with his eyes and gaze, I placed my index finger on my lips with my free hand and slightly lowered my eyes. This way of enticing was too easy to understand that it seemed to have gotten through to Azel.
“Ngh.”
He caught my hand and gently kissed me.
After separating from him a bit, he bit my lower lip again soon.
We touched each other again and again, changing the angles of our neck and kissing.
As we stared into each other’s eyes, revealing our flushed faces, we kissed each other playfully. It was embarrassing, yet sweet and fun.
“Hah… We better get going. It’ll be midnight before we arrive at the castle.”
“…I’m gonna make a real run for it, so, l-let me have some more…”
“I’ll give you as much as you want.”
We giggled and laughed at each other, met to rub our foreheads together, and now our lips were deeply pressed together.
Azel seemed to like kissing. I would like it too if it was with him. We were on the same page.
Your precious memories. Even if I don’t remember them, that past is the reason we are here today and that we can touch each other like this.
Shall we check out first to see if such miracles and happy feelings are possible?
—Speaking of what happened next…
I’d like to let you know that it was late at night when we finally returned to the demon lord’s castle after two days, and that we ended up sleeping in the same bed.
Gh… He just sucked on my lips and licked every inch of my mouth for the rest of the night to make me feel good with kisses…!
I felt a slight sense of danger as I sensed that my various erogenous zones were being developed more and more sensitively.
He couldn’t bear to watch, so he ran away. His movements must have been suspicious to the humans.
But of course, he wasn’t composed enough to care about that. He went to a secluded garden at the back of the castle and curled up.
The idea of being hated was scary.
For someone who had been living in the wild, consuming the blood of monsters, not realizing that he was alone in a place where there was not even a single person who could bear him ill will, this was a first for him.