She Belongs To The Devil

Ariel and Damien were sitting down midair in the room while facing each other.

Ariel was manipulating the air around them so that they could stay still in one place without being affected by the movement of the ship.

Ariel gazed at Damien's cheeks. She stretched her hand and lightly touched the red marks that were slowly fading away. "Did it hurt too much?"

Damien smiled and shook his head. "No. I mean yes. But it was bearable." He chuckled and then added, "I can tell from those slaps alone that you have become quite strong."

Ariel folded her arms and then replied, "You're lucky that you met me here inside this cramped space of someone else's ship. Had you met me somewhere outside or in the Palace, then your condition would have been much worse."

"Then I am very glad that I met you here." Damien covered his cheeks with both of his palms and mumbled, "All my body parts are still intact."

Ariel burst into laughter because of the way Damien was holding his cheeks. She then tilted her head a little and gazed into his grey eyes. They looked much livelier than how they had looked just a while ago.

And she said softly, "Damien, I am glad that you came back."

"And so am I. I feel like a ton of weight has been lifted off from my chest." Damien gave a subtle smile to Ariel.

Ariel then asked him, "Well, aren't you going to meet the others? They will be elated to see you."

But Damien thought for a few seconds and shook his head. "You are all in a good mood. You are all on a trip. And I don't want to ruin everyone's happy mood by suddenly popping out of nowhere. Also, I think it would be rude of me to invite myself on the trip… though I am already doing it."

"Exactly!" Ariel tried to convince Damien to meet everyone, "You are already here with all of us. So why don't you join us? You can catch up with everyone at once. And we can travel together. It will be fun."

Damien looked at Ariel and said a bit awkwardly, "I don't think the foreign Prince would be happy about my sudden appearance. He is the one who is hosting all of you. And to tag along uninvited would look bad."

Ariel couldn't deny that Kenneth wouldn't like Damien's presence.

And because she was silent, Damien didn't want to put her in a pickle. So he said, "It's okay, Ariel. I will meet everyone when you all return back to Wyverndale."

"But you promised that you wouldn't leave the Earth realm," Ariel gave a sad look to Damien.

Damien instantly reassured her, "I won't disappear again until you ask me to. I will be around you. And if you are still worried that I might run back to Hell then I won't hide my aura when I cast the invisibility spell back on." Discover more stories at empire

"Okay then. But make sure that you stay close by," Ariel agreed to his terms.

She didn't want to force him into meeting everyone else right away and, like he said, turn the whole mood of the trip into a gloomy one.

And she also didn't want any tension between Damien and Kenneth. She didn't know how Damien would react to Kenneth yet. But she knew that Kenneth would be jealous and upset if Damien was to visibly accompany them on this trip.

Ariel then thought to herself, "But sooner or later, I will have to introduce the two of them to each other. I hope Kenneth won't get mad at me for hiding the fact that Damien was here with us sooner."

And as if on cue, there was a knock on the door followed by Kenneth's voice, "Ariel, are you awake? We are going to have lunch now. You must be really hungry."

"I will be right there," Ariel dropped both herself and Damien to the floor and shouted.

However, Kenneth called again, "Ariel? Are you alright? Are you still asleep?"

Damien gestured at the walls and then mouthed, "The spell."

"Oh, right!" Ariel flicked her hand and then deactivated the spell that was making the room soundproof. And she answered again, "I am awake, Kenneth. I will be outside in a minute."

"Okay, I will gather the others."

Ariel and Damien heard Kenneth knocking on others' doors and calling them for lunch.

Damien put the invisibility spell on but left out his aura as he had promised Ariel.

Ariel gazed at his aura and took a deep in. And then she walked out of her room. She made sure to keep the door open until Damien also got out.

"Ariel, how do you feel now?" Kenneth walked closer to Ariel and gazed at her face.

Ariel gave a bright smile and replied, "I feel great. Just a little hungry."

Kenneth could feel the sudden change in the air around Ariel, meaning he could clearly see her radiating like never before. And he felt happy to see her like that.

Niylah, Ramon, and Zach also walked out of their respective rooms. They also looked better than before now.

"Ary, you're good right?" Niylah walked up to Ariel and said, "Earlier, it sounded like you tripped or something."

"Tripped?" Kenneth gave a questioning glance to Ariel.

Ariel shook her head and said, "It was nothing serious. I was trying to get some food but I… forgot to eat after I tripped." She held her stomach and gestured at Kenneth to lead the way, "I'm starving, Kenneth. Lead the way, please."

"Sure. Follow me, everyone," Kenneth walked ahead of everyone like usual.

And everyone else followed.

Ariel looked back to see if Damien was also following them.

Niylah followed Ariel's gaze and turned around. She narrowed her eyes because she could see a subtle hint of Damien's aura. However, she hadn't seen his aura before. And as for his smell, it had been following them throughout the trip so Niylah was already used to it. She didn't suspect a thing.

When the Royals reached the dining hall, the dishes had already been spread out on the table. Everyone took their seats. And the maids and servants served the dishes to them.

"Everything looks so delicious," Ariel instantly picked up her fork and began to dig in.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Zach laughed and teased Ariel, "Someone is really hungry."

While everyone was enjoying their food, Damien was leaning in one corner of the hall and watching everyone eating. He also wanted to sit down with everyone and enjoy the foods of the Earth realm.

But then his eyes fell on Kenneth. He didn't want to sit at the same table as him. While he looked at Kenneth, he couldn't help but feel as if that hybrid had replaced him.

He narrowed his eyes at Kenneth and thought to himself, "If only I had overcome my fear and come back sooner… I would have been the one to sit together with everyone and not him."

And to add salt to his wound, he saw Kenneth helping Ariel cut her food into smaller pieces. Ariel genuinely looked happy by his side. Damien obviously became even more jealous of Kenneth.

"That could have been me…"