Chapter 89 (1/2)

“Vur? What are you doing here?” Paul asked with wide eyes. “And Ms. Besteck… I didn’t think either of you would show up for the memorial.”

Lillian stood next to Paul—frozen—with an ice cream cone on the floor in front of her. Vur and Tafel stood in the center of a plaza filled with a countless number of humans giving them a wide berth. “I-It’s been a while,” Lillian said and lowered her head to look at her fallen treat.

“Hey,” Paul whispered and nudged Lillian. “Why are you being such a stranger?”

“I’m not being a stranger,” Lillian hissed back. “We don’t really know his fiancée after all.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Vur asked and tilted his head. “I heard that the king was supposed to make a public appearance today in front of a lot of important people, so I decided to take a look.” Tafel blinked a few times and frowned as she thought back to a certain question Vur randomly asked her one night.

“Oh. Yeah,” Paul said. “The king’s declaring a national holiday out of respect for the ones who died during the worm outbreaks.” He lowered his voice. “Rudolph and the pope were among the first casualties. Lillian and I were worried about you; you just disappeared on us and we never heard from you again.”

“Do you guys want to move somewhere less conspicuous?” Lillian asked. “It feels like everyone’s staring at us.”

“Everyone is staring at us,” Paul said as he whirled around and observed the spectators.

Tafel tugged on Vur’s arm. “Can we move out of the crowd?” she asked with a tremble in her voice. “I don’t like it.”

“Our grandpa’s back there,” Paul said as he motioned in a vague direction. “We can go watch the memorial with him; he’s not too fond of crowds either.”

The sea of people parted as the group of four made their way out of the plaza. “What’ve you been up to for the past two months?” Paul asked as they headed towards a secluded corner.

“And what’s with the flower tattoo?” Lillian asked as she pointed towards Vur’s chest.

Vur looked down. Stella’s birthflower had sunk into his skin and left an outline of a rose with its roots wrapped around his body. “A friend gave it to me,” he said. “As for what I’ve been doing… making babies, I guess. It feels nice. I’ve also remodeled a mountain to make it more hospitable for my children.”

Lillian’s face turned red as she stared at Tafel whose face turned an equal shade of scarlet. Paul slapped his hand on Vur’s shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. “Vur…” Tafel said and glared at the dragon-boy. “Can you not say such ambiguous things? People will take it the wrong way.”

Paul cleared his throat as they arrived in front of the cousins’ grandfather. “Well, I don’t think that was very ambiguous,” he said. “What other meaning could that possibly have?”

“What are you talking about?” Grandpa Leonis asked and raised his eyebrow. “You must be Vur. I’ve heard a lot about you from Paul and Lillian.” His eyes narrowed as his gaze landed on Tafel’s horns. “And this young lady is?”

“Vur’s fiancée who is sleeping with him before their marriage,” Lillian said in one breath and looked at her toes.

Tafel stomped her foot. “We’re not!”

“We aren’t?”

“Not in the way she’s talking about!” Tafel said as her face turned an even brighter shade of red.

“What’s going on here?” Grandpa Leonis cupped his hand and whispered to Paul.

Paul cupped his hand and whispered back, “I don’t know, but she’s the demon lord, so we probably shouldn’t tease her too much.”

“Demon lord?!” Grandpa Leonis shouted and swiftly covered his mouth with his hands. A few people at the edge of the plaza turned their heads to stare at the group.

“It’s in name only,” Tafel said as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I let my mom handle everything.”

“I see…” Grandpa Leonis said and nodded. He placed his hands on Paul’s and Lillian’s heads. “You two have made yourself some very interesting friends; I’m surprised, considering how... special you are.” He smiled at Lillian.

“Hey!” Lillian said and crossed her arms. “Don’t make fun of me! It’s not nice.”

A cannon shot resounded through the air and the murmurings of the crowd died down.