I Took the Demon King as My Wife

When Hans returned to the room, the maid was gone and only his wife remained.
“…Why are you alone?”
He asked blankly after putting down the luggage.
“She went back to her room. She needs to unpack her own luggage too, doesn’t she?”
“Ah… is that so? I thought she would be staying in this room too.”
At his casual remark, Eilena glanced at him and said,
“How could we let someone else into a married couple’s room? No matter how close I am to that child, as a subordinate, she must maintain boundaries.”
“Well… I suppose that makes sense when you put it that way.”
“More importantly.”
Eilena raised a topic as she gently rose from her seat. She immediately headed to the table in the corner, gestured for Hans to sit across from her, and then sat down.
At this, Hans stopped unpacking and immediately went to sit opposite her.
“What is it, do you have something to say?”
“……”
Despite Hans’s question, Eilena remained silent. She merely lowered her intense gaze slightly, and with her chin resting on her hand, she scraped the edge of the table with her other hand.
-Tock.
The finger that had been moving steadily suddenly stopped.
Simultaneously, she slowly adjusted her posture and let out a deep sigh, as if reluctantly.
Eilena paused briefly, then quietly opened her mouth.
“Let me ask you one thing…”
“What is it?”
“…Have you ever felt lust for me?”
“Gah…!”
Hans, who had been listening to the question blankly, suddenly staggered.
His face immediately turned red, and he coughed repeatedly like someone choking.
“Wh-what are you suddenly saying!”
He shouted after finally catching his breath. At the table he slammed down roughly, Eilena flinched.
She looked at Hans, whose face was still bright red, then slowly lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.
“Since… things have come to this… wouldn’t it be better to clear this up? It was something we needed to address eventually…”
“What do you mean ‘things have come to this’…!”
Hans, who had been answering while unable to control his excitement, suddenly felt something off about her words and stopped talking. Then he slowly looked around the room.
Various furniture was placed in the spacious room. From the table where the two were sitting now, to the small sofa by the window, the coat rack and wardrobe, and the bed…
His wandering eyes suddenly stopped at one place. The large bed. The bed with two pillows was the only one in the room.
“Don’t tell me…”
A chilling voice flowed from Hans’s lips. As a certain hypothesis suddenly occurred to him, his expression began to distort gradually.
Hans slowly turned his head back to its original position and looked at Eilena with a dissatisfied expression.
“Are you thinking… that because we’re sharing a room, I’m going to… do something to you?”
“……”
Eilena silently stared into his eyes. Silence was affirmation.
“Hah… this is really absurd…”
At her cold attitude, Hans immediately let out a hollow laugh.
His gradually distorting expression became more crumpled, eventually transforming into an angry face full of displeasure.
“There’s a limit to disrespecting someone, you… what exactly do you think I am?”
Seeing his voice also filled with anger, Eilena hastily waved her hands and answered.
“I just asked out of caution. I didn’t particularly suspect that…”
“Caution my foot! Didn’t the Sovereign of the Green-Fingered think that such a question itself would sound very offensive to the other person?”
“Ah… if it sounded that way, I’m sorry. I just…”
Screech! Before Eilena could finish speaking, Hans stood up abruptly from his seat. He let out a sigh full of irritation and glared at her with sharp eyes.
“I’ve been patient with you in many ways so far… but you, how far will you…!”
“……”
“Ha… tsk!”
Hans, who had been raising his voice towards her, suddenly closed his mouth as he saw her lowering her head dejectedly.
He reluctantly turned his head and made a rough clicking sound with his tongue. Picking up his half-unpacked luggage, he walked briskly to the small separate room next to the bathroom.
-Bang!
The sound of the door closing roughly echoed throughout the room.
“……”
Only then did Eilena slightly raise her head and stare blankly at the place he had left. Then she slowly turned her head to look at the tightly closed door of the separate room.
“…Haah.”
A strained sigh fluttered out of her mouth.
This had clarified things, but… somehow she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had said something unnecessary.
She rose weakly from her seat and headed to the bed. While picking up the clothes she had prepared earlier, she looked once more at the tightly closed door.
No sound came from inside.
After silently staring at the door for a long time, Eilena slowly began to change her clothes.
Though there was a separate changing room inside the bathroom, she deliberately didn’t go there.
After all, that tightly closed door wouldn’t open, and she was alone in this room now.
She could be certain of that.
*
Eilena, who had changed into more elaborate clothes, received all the attention at the evening banquet.
It was an occasion to welcome the two who had personally traveled to the distant borderlands.
It could be said that it was natural for her, the protagonist of the banquet, to attract everyone’s attention.
But the attention and numerous praises being showered on her now were not merely superficial.
“You, you are truly beautiful, Your Excellency!”
“Wow, indeed, the Beauty of Ice and Snow…”
“Yo-Your Regency, may I dare to offer you a drink?”
“Honey!”
She had possessed a beauty that stood out even among the notable ladies of the royal city.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was at the pinnacle for the entire continent, and to the eyes of the people of Larhas, which was merely an unremarkable countryside, she was truly a supreme beauty.
“Thank you.”
Eilena merely quietly expressed her gratitude amidst such people.
She knew that their reactions were somewhat exaggerated, but it wasn’t unpleasant either.
Isn’t it said that even dragons dance at praise?
With only willing people surrounding her, sending praises wherever she looked… anyone would feel good in such a situation.
However, such a pleasant feeling completely vanished when a man caught in her peripheral vision.
“……”
Far away in a corner, Hans was silently drinking alone.
Amidst everyone’s lavish praise, her husband didn’t offer even a bit of compliment.
The only things going up to his lips, which seemed full of dissatisfaction, were the sloshing wine glass and insignificant appetizers.
His expression, with eyes tightly closed, conveyed that he didn’t want to mix words with anyone, nor did he want to.
After confirming his still-angered appearance, Eilena no longer found the incoming praises sweet.
No, rather, they began to feel somewhat bitter, and as they were repeatedly given, she gradually became irritated.
‘Why on earth am I…’
Just as she was about to turn her body to the opposite side,
“My goodness, this is my first time meeting you, madam… no… what was I supposed to call you…?”
A middle-aged woman approached her with a gentle smile. The wrinkles at the corners of her mouth looked rather beautiful.
“She’s Your Regency!”
Eventually, Lord Kavern followed behind the woman and approached with hearty laughter.
He hugged the petite woman and smiled widely.
“Your Regency, let me formally introduce you. This is my wife, Helen.”
At the lord’s introduction, the middle-aged woman bowed her head politely.
Eilena, who had solemnly received her greeting, hastily erased her displeased expression and reciprocated with an equally polite greeting.
“Pleased to meet you, madam. I am Eilena Elbain, who has come here under the Emperor’s orders… You may call me Your Regency as the lord says, but… feel free to address me however you’re comfortable.”
“Oh my, shall I do that then?”
At Eilena’s response, which contained a gentle smile, Helen laughed softly and fluttered her fingertips.
Then the lord laughed heartily and gently massaged her shoulders.
“Ah~ really, this woman? Shouldn’t you politely decline once at this point for etiquette’s sake?”
“Oh my, is that so…? Madam, oh, no… Your Regency. Could you say it once more? Let me put on some airs too, hoho!”
Helen, seemingly accustomed to her husband’s jokes, spoke to Eilena with a girlish laugh that didn’t match her age.
Eilena was slightly taken aback, but she didn’t show it and immediately went along with her rhythm.
After the wife maintained her dignity with an appropriate refusal, the lord shouted towards the hero who was far away.
“Hero! Hero Hans!”
Hans, who had been munching on appetizers, suddenly turned his head at the voice that was looking for him, waving hands and shouting loudly.
Then he unexpectedly made eye contact with his wife, whom he hadn’t intended to meet, and at that moment, he coughed awkwardly and turned his head away.
Seeing that he still showed no signs of getting up from his seat, the lord rushed over and forcibly pulled Hans, who was stuck to his chair.
“Come on! What are you doing here alone! You two are the protagonists today! Get up quickly!”
“Ah… it-it’s fine. I want to drink quietly alone today, so just…”
“Hey, Hero! Refusal only looks beautiful when women do it; for men, it’s disgusting, you know?”
“Ah, no…”
Hans tried to refuse several times, but seeing the lord’s expression that showed no intention of giving up, Hans finally surrendered and got up.
The lord, who had finally dragged him along, immediately pushed him towards his wife’s side.
“My~ Looking at you two like this, you really match well! You two are truly a match made in heaven, aren’t you?”
“Haha! Didn’t I tell you! Doesn’t it look like us when we were young?”
“Oh my, you old man, how embarrassing?”
At the sight of the lord and his wife staring at them intently as if appreciating a work of art, Hans forcibly raised the corners of his mouth.
“Now, now, come this way!”
The lord, having finished his brief appraisal, took them to a modest platform.
“Everyone’s attention!”
Then he raised his voice and called out to the entire banquet hall.
The voices that had been chattering fell silent, and everyone’s eyes turned to the three people standing on the platform.
“Now~ Our Hero and Your Regency are going to make a toast!”
“Ooh~!”
At the sudden event, applause filled with anticipation erupted from all around.
“Wh-what…?”
“Lo-Lord…?”
At the event that started without any prior notice to the parties involved, simultaneous bewildered voices erupted from the two.
However, the lord, already beginning to feel the effects of alcohol, paid no attention and handed a wine glass to each of them.
“Well then, starting with the Hero…?”
He winked and whispered quietly to Hans.
“No, what… what am I supposed to say?”
A confused Hans asked back, but the lord kept urging him, saying he could say anything.
Having been summoned abruptly, what could he possibly have to say…
Hans shot a dissatisfied glance at the lord while swirling his overflowing wine glass.
But what could he do now that he had already ascended the platform?
Though he had no talent for speech, he now had to squeeze his brain to create a plausible toast.
“Um… so…”
After pondering for a moment with his lips pursed, Hans raised his glass high with an inadequate voice.
“Today… the weather is so nice… so, the taste of alcohol is quite good too… probably… Come on, let’s all drink…!”
“Uh, uh… wooah!”
The toast, improvised on the spot, was extremely awkward.
His uncertain voice even made others hesitate in their cheers…
The forced applause was bound to lower the atmosphere.
“Ayet!”
Hans awkwardly downed the drink in his glass in one go, as if to shake off the embarrassment. At his action, the sinking atmosphere barely lifted a bit.
“Hiya!”
“That’s spirited! As expected of the Hero!”
Some men, ignited by his spirited appearance, began to let out sincere cheers.
The sinking atmosphere was barely holding on to the surface. And then…
“Your Regency?”
Now it was his wife’s turn.
“I-I am not very knowledgeable about drinking culture. Moreover, human culture is even more…”
“Ah! Then just drink without saying anything! Come on, hurry up!”
She tried to express her refusal and return the glass, but the lord was unlikely to accept it.
He kept being inconsiderate, saying she didn’t need to make a toast but should at least drink.
“…Ah.”
A troubled Eilena looked at the large wine glass.
Dragon Bone wine, was it? The unfamiliar name matched its pungent aroma, which was extremely foreign to her.
Compared to the wine she occasionally drank, it was much stronger and had a tingling scent.
It was almost an offensive smell.
‘It’s alright… as long as I… as long as I maintain my senses… and besides… he already said he has no such intentions…’
Uncomfortable memories kept surfacing, shaking her heart.
She had already received assurance, and there was nothing to fear.
Moreover, she couldn’t show weakness in front of everyone’s attention…
She couldn’t delay any longer.
Eilena tightly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Just as she was slowly bringing her trembling hand to her mouth.
“Huff…”
A deep sigh was heard by her ear. At the same time, the wine glass that she had been firmly holding slipped from her hand.
“Wh-what…?”
A surprised Eilena belatedly opened her eyes. Hans, who had snatched her wine glass, was already bringing it to his mouth.
-Gulp. Gulp.
Hans emptied the stolen glass without hesitation.
After downing such a large amount in one breath again, Hans wiped his lips and held up the empty glass high.
“Wow~!”
“Cool!”
“That’s a man! A man!”
“Whew~ Whew~!”
At the sight of Hans shaking the empty glass above his head, the men once again sent enthusiastic cheers.
The women all had envious looks and poked the sides of their husbands who kept praising without sensitivity.
The atmosphere, which had nearly sunk, was now intensely heated up.
“……”
Amidst the boisterous sounds echoing around, Eilena was blankly looking up at Hans’s face.
Feeling her intense gaze, Hans suddenly turned his head and directly met her eyes, which contained some complex emotions.
“…Sigh.”
The following reaction was a deep sigh similar to what she had heard just before.
Hans exhaled a long sigh and turned his slightly flushed face.
Grasping his hot throat, he immediately called the lord.
“Kavern!”
“Yes, yes~ Hero!”
“Now that the toast is over, let’s have a drink leisurely, just the two of us.”
“Oh my~ how could I refuse? But… you emptied two glasses of that strong Dragon Bone wine in a row… will you be okay?”
At the provocative remark disguised as concern, Hans smiled slightly and descended the platform first.
“I would be fine even after emptying ten glasses, so don’t worry. Come on, let’s go quickly!”
Hans walked back to his original seat, and the lord, laughing heartily, followed closely behind him.
“……”
Even then, Eilena still had a blank expression as she watched his retreating figure.
The wine that had slightly spilled when her glass was snatched had considerably wet her hand.
Perhaps because it was high-proof alcohol, it quickly dried, making her hand feel hot.
Although she hadn’t even drunk the wine… Eilena’s body felt as if it was burning.