Kidnapped Princess C31

Chapter 31

Nyx yawned languidly. The library—once a quiet place to sleep—had long since been invaded by other presences. He lay back as if performing yoga, his body splayed out while only his neck was arched back, floating in midair.

“Aren’t you bored?”

Nyx quietly watched Luminas, who was calmly reading, and asked.

At first, she had seemed nothing more than a runny-nosed brat, not someone who could pass for a princess. But now she was different.

The child who had been ignorant of her own strength had awakened to power and grown stronger; having learned decorum from Lilith, she now carried herself with a dignity that could rival many nobles. Her soft, deliberate steps were like those of an elegant swan.

Yet, as if to prove she did not neglect training, her body was muscular in an unladylike way. When I happened to touch her shoulder, I was startled. The solid muscle gripped that broad shoulder as if it could belong to a man.

“You, Nyx, are the one who’ll be left behind if you stay so lazy.”

“Left behind? Please.”

Nyx chuckled derisively, then fixed his stubborn gaze on Luminas as she drove herself on.

He had lived a long time, but the feeling called love still eluded him. Angels were not meant to love anyone; they only revered the divine. Nyx had even abandoned reverence for that god, so the word affection felt foreign to him.

“Do you truly like him that much?”

“Yes. Of course.”

There was no hesitation in her answer. It was unwavering. From the beginning, everything Luminas did was related to Suhyeon—her reading, her training—all for him. More precisely, to become a bride worthy of him.

“There are other paths. Live freely.”

To Nyx, it seemed foolish that Luminas remained bound to Suhyeon simply because he had once saved her as a child.

He had been born of the divine, revered that divinity, and then, grown weary, had broken away. Now he regretted the lost time.

“There’s only one way I want to live. As the Demon King’s bride.”

“Stubborn as always. He doesn’t think that way at all, you know? I keep telling you—he took you in because he’s soft-hearted, not because he intended to make you his bride. Besides, you’re human. How will you handle the lifespan gap? Aren’t these the kind of real-world warnings you won’t hear anywhere else?”

The fingertips of Luminas, poised to turn the page, twitched with nervous energy. The corner of the paper crumpled under the pressure. Luminas tore her gaze from the book and fixed it on Nyx. His wings trembled slightly.

Luminas’s eyes flicked toward Nyx’s wings. He was certain she was silently debating whether to tear those white wings off.

“I wonder if he knows you give him that look. Fine. Do as you please.”

Nyx flapped his wings and flew up, escaping the heat of the moment.

“Yes. I will do as I please. Even if you don’t say it.”

Compared to a moment earlier, a pleasant arc curved the corners of her mouth. But her eyes remained cold. Nyx clicked his tongue softly.

‘What could possibly be so pretty and lovable about that so-called princess?’

A single irritating comment could sour her gaze, then she’d suddenly smile broadly again; the shifts made his skin crawl.

Only Suhyeon remained ignorant of Nyx’s true nature at the Demon Castle.

‘He must think she’s a meek little rabbit. But the princess is as terrifying as any monster.’

He acknowledged her persistence. He knew how hard she worked behind the scenes to secure the title of bride.

Recently, the frequency of female demons raiding Suhyeon’s chamber had dropped sharply. Suhyeon believed others had simply acknowledged Luminas, but that was not the case. Luminas had quietly dealt with them all herself.

“Ah, it’s almost time to bring tea to the Demon King.”

Luminas clapped her hands sweetly and replaced the book. Then Nyx’s gaze slid to her neck.

“What’s with your neck?”

She had stretched to put a book on a higher shelf, exposing her throat as she craned her neck upward; Nyx had noticed a slight protrusion—an Adam’s apple—and muttered under his breath.

“Isn’t an Adam’s apple only something men have?”

He stared at Luminas’s throat again, as if unsure of what he’d seen. Without warning, Luminas retrieved a scarf from her pocket and wrapped it around her neck.

When Nyx gave her a look that asked what she was doing, she met him with eyes as cold as standing on an icy plain. Her gaze was of a different order than before, and Nyx was slightly taken aback.

She moved as if hiding something. In that instant, Nyx’s suspicion flared.

“The only person who may see my neck is the Demon King. I am not your spectacle.”

“I won’t deny you’re beautiful, but do you think I, like other demons, lust after you? I don’t want to die at the Demon King’s hands!”

Nyx gaped in disbelief. That was truly who Luminas was—she would plainly say she belonged only to Suhyeon.

Nyx recalled that slight visibility of an Adam’s apple could appear on slender women and let the matter drop.

Luminas left the library. Nyx did not notice, but the moment she turned away his expression went cold. He had clenched his fists so tightly that his nails had torn into his palms; they were reddened as if about to bleed.

“A man…”

Nyx’s assertion was not unfounded.

Luminas stared at a large full-length mirror on the way. The long hair—beautiful hair Suhyeon had praised—flowed down her back. Her eyes were the color of the sky; Suhyeon had said they gave peace. The dress made her appear unmistakably female.

Yet, when Luminas placed a hand over her chest—the part a woman would naturally have—there was nothing to feel. The frills masked it as best they could, but a touch sank into hollowness.

She had known she wasn’t female for a long time. She had wanted to deny it, but as she grew the truth became clearer. She was simply different from other women.

Only when she was older did she understand why her mother forbade bathing with others. She never wanted Suhyeon to discover her secret.

Fortunately, no one had seen her bare body. The only one to bathe her when she first arrived at the Demon Castle had been a low-ranking demon. After that she had bathed alone. She could never forget the serious look her mother once wore; the moment she understood she was different, she began dressing alone.

She remembered the moment she realized she was male. Once Luminas had learned to read, she devoured books in the library—among them were texts explaining the differences between men and women.

She wanted to become Suhyeon’s perfect bride. So she studied how men and women differed, down to physical traits. The more she read, the more the books suggested she was male.

Her world had been so narrow that as a child she had not noticed anything strange; her growth had been muted, so the changes were unclear.

At first she denied it endlessly. She wanted certainty but could ask no one.

Suhyeon had always called her princess and bride, and that alone gave her stability. But a corner of her heart was afraid.

A bride is a female role; those vying for the Demon Queen’s position were all women. No man appeared among them. Being male felt like being told she had no hope.

‘I cannot yield to anyone.’

So she hid it. She would never give up the bride’s place. Ten years, a hundred years—her resolve would not change.

Therefore she strove to remain pretty and cute. She took growth-suppressing medicine, but it could not stop her body from maturing, so she reduced the dosage. The drug’s side effect twisted her bones painfully, but that pain was less than the pangs of normal growth.

Every night she prayed that she would stop growing.

Then—

“The Elf King wants to have a child with the Demon King.”

Luminas’s hand trembled. An heir. Luminas could never give him a child. He needed a bride. He needed an heir to rule the world. But Luminas could not be that person.

So would she lose her place? Had someone noticed? Had they guessed she was male?

Luminas could not contain herself and burst through the door. She did not realize her tears were falling. As she drank in Suhyeon’s startled face, fury rose within her. It was not anger at him.

It was anger at herself and at the High Elf, the one called the Elf King.

‘I protected him. I stayed by his side. Yet some stranger appears from nowhere—’

Her teeth ground together. Her face threatened to contort. So she fled.

Again, in the full-length mirror, a very different expression looked back at her. The face of a predator eyeing prey; a cold blue gleam flashed in her eyes.

‘These eyes cannot appear. That is not me.’

Luminas forced herself to control her emotions, returned to her room, and prepared a pitiful act to wait for him. It was easy to make her tears start again.

Then she would go to him, weeping, and plead.

“Do you not find me cute anymore?”

He shook his head, saying he did not. Yet the unease did not dissipate.

“I know. You didn’t bring me here to be your bride. You took me in out of pity.”

She knew all too well.

“But if you keep loving me, that is enough. I can wait forever. I know we are getting closer.”

She could wait. He was the only one her eyes saw. She had received so much and had no means to hold him, so she swallowed the urge to act.

‘You will never know. How every night I am desperate to pounce on you.’

Luminas shut her lust-filled eyes and hid it.