Epilogue: The Damsel Wishes to Have the Demon Lord’s Child
Epilogue: The Young Woman Wishes to Have the Demon Lord’s Child
After a fulfilling day in the town, the happy family returned to their house to bake an apple cake. They made the dough and assembled the cake, then put it into the oven to bake, gathering in the dining room for a delicious cup of milk while they waited.
“Smells yummy!” Marie joyfully exclaimed, getting excited over the sweet aroma wafting in from the kitchen.
She was sitting across the table from Anima, who had made himself comfortable on his brand-new chair.
“It looked very tasty! I can’t wait to see how it tastes.”
“Can’t wait!”
Marie excitedly repeated her mommy’s words, but Myuke had been strangely quiet ever since they’d sat down.
“Is everything okay, Myuke? Is your stomach upset or something?” Anima asked, but Myuke simply shook her head and looked at Luina.
“You said the Harbinger stone can control Daddy, right?” she asked, clearly disturbed by that piece of information.
“You can’t control him like a puppet, but you can give him orders by expending the mana collected in the stone. At least, that’s what Dad told me.”
Being only second-hand knowledge, she couldn’t be completely sure, but as he had been summoned by the Harbinger stone, it was likely that one could use it to order him around.
“I don’t want anyone to control Daddy! What about you? Don’t you hate the idea of someone taking control of your husband, Mommy?”
“Of course I do! But I can’t deplete the stone without giving him an order, and I’m not strong enough to destroy it.”
“Daddy, destroy it.”
Despite feeling the pressure of Myuke’s grim glare, he shook his head.
“I would never destroy Luina’s memento of her parents.”
Luina had sold almost everything she’d inherited from her parents to keep the orphanage open. He couldn’t bear to destroy one of her last remaining mementoes of them.
“I care about Daddy much more than some magic stone. The thought that someone could steal him from us using that stone makes me sick. I don’t want Daddy to leave…”
She was desperately trying to hold back her tears, sniffling and rubbing her eyes. Seeing her big sister on the verge of a breakdown, Marie started to tear up as well. The precious memento of Luina’s parents, the very stone that connected them, could destroy the peaceful, loving family they were all hoping to protect.
Destroying one of the last remnants of memories she had of her parents was not an option, but he couldn’t let his family live in fear either. Therefore, he had only one option left.
“Luina. Give me orders until the stone runs out of power.”
Luina’s expression grew grim upon his proposal. She didn’t seem to be a fan of the idea.
“I don’t want to warp your will and turn you into something you aren’t. Besides, this stone is to guarantee the future of this world. We have to fill it with power to ward off the threat constantly looming over our world: the resurgence of the catastrophe that almost wiped us out three centuries ago.”
Her family had spent the past three hundred years tirelessly pouring their mana into that magic stone, generation after generation. It was the crystallization of her ancestors’ feelings. Considering that, Luina must’ve felt guilty for using their precious treasure for her own sake, so Anima took extra heed to talk in the softest, most gentle tone he could.
“As long as I live, I’ll protect this world. A menace threatening this world would also threaten you, Myuke, and Marie, after all.” He smiled warmly at her. “We can leave restoring the stone’s power to our offspring.”
The moment he tried to ease the burden of self-deprecation with those words, Luina turned beet red.
“Oh, r-right… We’re married, aren’t we. Having children one day is only natural.”
“Well… Just tell me if you don’t want any. I’m okay with that too,” he said, but deep down, he wanted children.
He was already happier than he had ever been before, but having a child with his beloved wife would surely bring even more happiness to him, and his family.
“N-No, I wouldn’t particularly mind… or rather… I would be happy to have your child.”
“R-Really?”
She nodded bashfully, to which his face lit up with happiness. He hadn’t believed that the idea would be rejected, as they both loved each other, but he had never thought she would come right out and say she wanted to have his child.
“Well, Myuke has grown up to be an incredible big sister, and Marie is getting older too. We don’t have to worry about money anymore, and most important of all, I love you. I don’t think raising another child here would be an issue.”
She spoke quickly, trying to mask her embarrassment.
“Luina, I promise to properly raise our child. I’ll become the father all of you deserve.”
“You already are. Right, girls?”
After exchanging glances with Marie, Myuke nodded.
“I love you, Daddy! You’re strong and kind, and I’m really happy you married Mommy!”
“Me too! I love you too, Daddy!”
“Myuke… Marie… I’m so happy! I’ll make sure to be a good Daddy so our newborn will feel the same about me as well!”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Luina chuckled. “We haven’t even done anything yet. And, well…”
She cut her sentence short, but Anima could make a fairly educated guess as to what she had wanted to say. The same thing had crossed his mind as well: there was only a single bed in their house.
Even if they wanted children, they couldn’t take the first step toward that while Myuke and Marie were sleeping next to them. They might have been able to get away with it if it were only Marie, but Myuke was already twelve—she was old enough to know what was going on. That didn’t mean he couldn’t bring himself to shoo his beloved children away, though, let alone shut them out.
“I wouldn’t mind sleeping here. Like, I could push the chairs together to make a bed and sleep out here with Marie.”
“You don’t have to make suggestions!” Luina squirmed, her cheeks burning hot. She cleared her throat to collect herself, then looked at Anima. “We should come back to this topic later.”
“Mm-hmm, let’s do that.” Anima agreed, as they had more pressing matters to attend to than their future child. “Anyway, we have to empty that stone. Luina, I’ll do anything you ask of me. Please, give me an order.”
His voice was as gentle as a cold breeze in the summer heat. His feelings, his desire to release his beloved wife Luina from the guilt weighing down on her, seemed to have finally connected. Luina timidly nodded.
“Okay.” Still sitting on her chair, she turned toward him and gripped her pendant. As a slight pink once again painted her cheeks, she glanced at him. “Please, kiss me again.”
As the words left her lips, they traveled directly into Anima’s mind, where they transformed into a strong, irresistible order: Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!
His mind became hazy, and kissing her became the only thing he could focus on, so he did just that. The moment their lips touched, the voices in his head went silent.
“Umm…”
As he pulled his face back, he noticed that the dash of pink coloring her cheeks had invaded her whole face, including her ears. Fidgeting in her chair, she opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry… it didn’t drain completely…”
Seeing her longing gaze, Anima smiled.
“I won’t stop until it’s empty.”
“Then… Anima, please kiss me again.”
He did so with pleasure, but it only used up a sliver of the immense reserves of mana housed in the stone. Their solution: they kissed thirty more times in the quiet, peaceful dining room.