The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)

Crawling through a dark place, I found Jade throwing a tantrum on the floor, rolling around and slamming its wings, surrounded by the echoing sounds of its chirp.

I scooped the little bird and stroked it with a laugh, praising the kid for accidentally founding the passage. After Jade calmed down, Ignis hopped off my head to the path so we could see the place better thanks to its flame.

Surprisingly, the path was pretty well made. It didn’t feel crude, and polished adequately. Perhaps the one who build this knew the path might be used by important people--like the Lord. There were even several unlit torches along the way, although we let them be because we had our own unlimited torch walking ahead of us.

Based on Natha’s brief explanation, this passage was supposed to be an emergency measure, I think. Whether it was to temporarily hide from assaulters or to escape from the mansion. If I recall correctly, the path led to the other side of the mansion, to the east wing that was separated by the garden. Usually, to reach that place, we would need to circle around the back side of the mansion, so this could be used as a shortcut too.

I committed this detail to memory so I could share it with Natha later, during our dinner. The path dipped at some point, beneath the garden, and as we reach the center of the garden, there was a t-junction; one path led to the east wing and the other, I guessed, led somewhere outside. Perhaps to the hill behind the mansion? Or someplace on the riverside?

I would like to find out where the exit point was, but I worried it might take a longer time than I had planned. Once again, I didn’t want my guards and attendant to think I was missing. So I decided to head to the other wing instead.

That wing was supposed to be where the guests were staying, and the courtesans whom Rubha invited here were treated as guests, so they were staying there. They would go out in the evening for their ’work’, carefully so people did not realize they were staying in the Lord’s mansion.

From what I gathered yesterday, however, only three would stay here today. The other four went straight to their ’workplace’ after our shopping spree yesterday, and wouldn’t be coming back until they had several off days.

So...basically, this mansion was their vacation home, huh? Way to utilize the Lord’s house.

I got it though; it wasn’t like anyone would dare to look for them in the Lord’s mansion, right?

Anyway, after a while, we found a stair, so it meant the garden path was over. The wall changed to a stone wall, and no longer a straight path. Since the east wing was mostly filled with guest rooms, I guessed the path was made to follow the structure, zigzagging until we reach the other entry point. I began to see the maker’s intention with this hidden passage. The two entry points were made so the residents on both sides of the mansion could get out in case of emergency.