There’s always a cliche in every trope

Somehow, once I realized that I had nowhere to go, it became easier.

Because it meant I didn't have to think about complicated thoughts, like trying to escape and whatnot. Natha was right—all I had to do now was stay here and recuperate.

Everything needed to be taken step by step.

First, by not think that this place was a prison, since it seemed like I had to live for a while in this tower anyway.

Yes, this was a convalescence home, a big one at that. Let's go with that.

Let's see the bright side. I used to only live in the hospital room. Maybe the whole ward if I was in a good condition. Compared to those days, this place was basically a whole amusement park. No, a museum. Let's think of this place as a museum.

Or, you know, a fantasy section of a comic con—even though I never went to one.

And what should one do when attending such an event?

Of course, we should explore the place!

And then there was that homework from Natha too, about finding out his intention of granting me the contract.

Hmm...I should also look for what being his bride entailed. If he would abide by his promise, I wouldn't have to be one until I fully recovered, but there was nothing wrong with being prepared, right? I mean, mentally.

So I made a mental list while submerging myself inside the warm tub after a hearty breakfast--I had this inkling that they planned to fatten me up with the size of every meal.

One. Explored the Lair. Rather than about filling my idle time or finding out what I could do in this place, I wanted to see if there really was no restriction in my exploration. I wanted to search every nook and cranny, looking for locked doors, finding secret passages, and see whether Angwi would really give me the key to all of those. I wanted to test his 'I hide nothing from my bride' stuff.

Two. Finding out the Demon Lord's real objection. I couldn't believe that he agreed to my pathetic pleading just for the fun of it. Not because he was a demon, but because philanthropy just didn't fit someone called the Demon Lord of Greed. Of all Demon Lords, he should be the one who operated more in give and take—with taking as a majority.

But for that, I had to find out his background first, as well as about his territory. It was all in movies and novels, right? Every story like this usually had something political or conspiratory going on.

Oh, my jobless, activity-less, laying-all-day-watching-videos self was tingling.

Ah, but—Three. Finding out what becoming a Demon Lord's bride means. Like, was it just a bride, bride...in a sense that I was to marry to him and...uhm...I guessed, became his...wife? Eh—husband? Wife?

—Oh, God, that was so...

No matter how handsome he was, just suddenly being shoved into relationship was…

I had to sink my head under the water so that I couldn't scream—or at least no one would hear it.

Well, maybe not? Perhaps it was the worst kind of bride? There were myths and lore wherein 'bride' was meant to be a sacrifice. To a god, to a monster, to a dragon, to a demon king...

The reason why my thought went in that direction was because of a certain isolated kingdom southwest of Lenaar. They had demanded a 'sacrifice'—which, as cliche as it was, had to be a virgin—from every fief, claiming that it was the price for their god's protection. In truth, it was to extract their pure life force so the King and the Lords could have prolonged life.

It was a setting to be found out by the Hero, a plot device to show the naive kid that humankind wasn't as righteous as they claimed to be, and that he was just being used and manipulated all this time.

My point was, if there was a method to extract life force, there might be a method to extract magic energy too. Who knew, maybe the handsome demon lord was healing me because he needed me at full health for the 'extraction' to be efficient.

I splashed the now lukewarm water on my face. I didn't know which one was worse; the thought of being shoved into marriage just like that, or the thought of becoming a power plant...

Ugh...thinking about this now just made my head spin.

Although it could also be because I had been in the bath for too long.

This thing about being a 'bride' was...I wouldn't be able to know what exactly it was without asking the demon lord himself. But...haa...just the thought of asking about that was already making me cringe and drown in embarrassment.

Whichever the answer was, both certainly bad for my hea—what was that?

As I finished changing and entered the bedroom again, there was a neat row of books lined up on top of the mattress. And on the other side of the bed, standing against the wall, was Angwi who looked at me with an expression that clearly emphasized I should check on those books.

So I stood there, hovering at the edge of the bed, reading the title of those books, and almost fainted because of it.

-The Bride and the Beast-

-The Runaway Bride-

-The Prince's Bride-

-The Contract Bride-

Those were the book's titles. The one that was written in common language and seemed to be a novel; some had human's mc, some demon, some even elf.

But that wasn't all. There were also books written in demonese that I could only comprehend a little with my limited vocabulary.

-How To ##### Demon Realm's High #####-

-What's Not To Do To Your ##### ### Husband-

-It's Not A Mistake To—fuck this I couldn't possibly read them anymore!

What. The. Hell. Is this? It took so much of my willpower not to crouch down and rolled beneath the bed.

"Uhm..." I looked up at Angwi, who still had a deadpan face. I truly couldn't comprehend how she could bring all of these books here with that expression. "What is this?"

All she did was shrug and point at me. It was clear though, that she brought all of these books because of my one simple question this morning.

Gosh! Were you saying I should read them all to understand what being 'bride' was supposed to mean?

I couldn't help but buried my face inside my palm, immediately made a mental note not to carelessly ask a leading question.

When I lifted my head, I was greeted by a tilting head and an unsatisfied gaze. Swiftly, I gathered all the books while pretending to be interested in them. Before we could exchange any more weird gazes, I opened one of the drawers on the nightstand and dumped—I mean, carefully put the book there.

"Haha...It's nice to have a lot of reading material before bed," I commented cheerfully, taking out one volume randomly and making a show of slipping it beneath the pillow. "I'll read this first tonight, thank you Angwi," I smiled widely for an added measure.

It was only after I saw she nodded and smiled in satisfaction that I breathed a sigh of relief.

Phew...somehow, I felt it was more nerve-wracking without Natha being here.

I wondered, though; why was there even books like this in Natha's Lair. Were they his? Was he actually liked reading something like this—which, regretfully, made me shudder. Or was he just collecting all kinds of random genres?

"Angwi, who owned these books?" I looked at her, and willed myself to keep calm, because if she said it was Natha's, I would probably hide myself the next time he came to the Lair.

The six-arms demon tilted her head up for a bit, and then looked at me while moving her arms like a chicken—I mean, wings. Like wings.

Oh, thank the universe! It belonged to the succubus.

"Oh, I see," I pondered for a while. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen her much. I actually had no idea what her role was inside the tower, or why was a succubus here in Natha's lair instead of with Demon Lord of Lust. Hmm...wasn't Natha mention that she actually had a beef with an incubus?

Hmm...she became more interesting the more I thought about it. And she could talk, supposedly.

"Where is she?"

This time, Angwi made a gesture of someone reading a book, and then pointed toward a bookcase inside the room.

"Library?"

What? She actually a librarian? Or was she just a nerd?

Alright, that was it then, my next destination.

"Can you show me there?"

Let's explore the library!

* * *

When Natha brought me to the tower that first time, he just whooshed us inside his bedroom. And then we spent the next day talking in the adjacent sitting room having breakfast, and then chatting on the balcony. Next, he whooshed me again in front of his servants to introduce my existence, and again whooshed me back to have dinner, before vanishing.

So I still had no idea what the inside of the tower truly looked like.

From what I could infer as I observed the tower from the balcony, the bedroom wasn't located on the highest floor. But there were at least seven floors between the personal living quarters to the main hall on the ground floor.

This whole floor was apparently used as the Demon Lord's personal floor, including the bedroom where I was staying, the dressing room, and a bathroom that was bigger than the room I had been staying in for the last month. There was a sitting room slash dining room, and what I could infer was a reading corner with two hazardous bookcases flanking a fireplace, a nice looking chaize lounge, and soft looking rug. I should use that comfortable-looking place tonight.

I spotted a closed door on the far side of the room, away from the door, and I had an inkling that it was the Demon Lord's study—which probably contained the most secrets. But for some reason, I had yet resolved myself to venture there, testing that I-hide-nothing statement.

Later, if I knew more about him. I had to test the water first with other, not-so-secret-looking places. Who knew if it was all a test to see whether or not I was trusty or gutsy enough?

Once we came out of the door, I was greeted with an aesthetic hallway that made me feel like I was in a hotel with classic architecture—the type that had been established and flourished for hundreds of years. The hallway leads to two kinds of passage; stairs and guess what? Elevator.

This goddamn place had a whole elevator installed.

Scratch that prison thingy. This place felt like a penthouse of an apartment.

But even then, when Angwi gestured toward the elevator, I pointed to the stairs. With Natha just teleporting me everywhere, I haven't used my legs much. But I wanted to utilize my legs now—now that I no longer felt pain in every step, now that I was strong enough to roam the place.

So even if the library turned out to be placed in the basement, I would still want to use the stairs.

Also, had I mentioned that the stairs were freaking gorgeous? Like those aesthetic boutique hotel people reviewed for their looks. Like the ones in the castles and gothic churches.

Too bad the library turned out to be only one floor below, so my astonishing journey ended up abruptly within the wide arch of a solemn hallway leading to a huge double door. From the look of it, seemed like the whole floor was dedicated to a library alone.

Oh...without realizing it, my heartbeat had been running faster in anticipation. I even held my breath as Angwi pushed the door open.

...to a view of the rear of a certain succubus jutted out from a massive pile of books as the upper part was being buried by the entirety of the bookcase's content in front of us.

What kind of dating sim cliché was this?