She Belongs To The Devil

This part of the ceremony was initiated by the bride and the groom by exchanging gifts with each other.

First, it was Theodore\'s turn to present his wedding gift to his wife. One of his followers climbed to the altar and handed him the gift that he had prepared for Adeline.

Theodore then handed over a beautiful bouquet of red roses to Adeline. And he lovingly looked into Adeline\'s deep eyes and said, "These red roses signify eternal love. May our love be as deep as this color red and may the love between us last till eternity."

Adeline was more than happy to receive those lovely flowers from Theodore which she knew was from Theodore\'s garden. She beamed and thanked him, "Thank you for the lovely flowers. I will treasure them with all my heart and I will treasure your love along with these."

Theodore was happy to know that Adeline liked the bouquet that he had prepared himself. And what more? He had enchanted those flowers so that they would never wilt and lose their original beauty.

It was now Adeline\'s turn to present her gift to her husband. A maid came while carrying a tray and Adeline picked up a small box from the tray.

She then opened the box to take out a ring and held out her palm for Theodore. And she asked, "May I?"

Theodore looked at the ring and at Adeline and then smiled. "Of course," Theodore gave his hand to Adeline and she put that ring on his finger.

She held his palm with both of her hands and said, "Just like there is no beginning or ending to this ring, my love for you is also the same – never-ending. In my absence, I hope that this ring will remind you of me and my love for you."

She then glanced at her own ring and whispered so that only he could hear, "And since you had gifted me a ring, I thought that you should also have one so that we could pair."

Theodore couldn\'t help but lean forward and give Adeline a soft kiss in front of everyone once again. He then smiled at her and said, "I love it. Thank you for loving me so dearly."

The guests were clapping and cheering for the newlyweds. Some of them were confused as to how the two of them were so in love when they had just met recently. And those who knew were happy to see that they were still so much in love even after all the things that they had to go through.

After the couples exchanged the gifts, everyone else climbed the steps of the altar and gave their blessings as well as the gifts. And in return, they got a package containing a golden coin that was specially minted for the wedding and also a few other things like wine and aromatic candles.

And when everyone finished gifting the couple, the guests were led towards the hall.

It was now already evening. The hall was well-lit with countless lanterns and a few chandeliers full of candles. The hall was prepared for the ball and thus, a piece of soft and slow music was already being played in the background when the guests, the Royals, and the newlyweds walked inside.

Raphael acted as the spokesperson of the ball. When the guests had gathered around while leaving an open space in the center, he announced, "We all know that for a father, his daughter is the crown jewel of his heart. And we all know that this is a special moment for the bride and her father. Everyone, please put your hands together for our beloved King and the beautiful bride."

Theodore and Adeline were standing while holding each other\'s hands. When Raphael announced that, Theodore took Adeline towards her father and handed her over saying, "I am giving her back just for a dance."

King Dragomir burst into laughter when he heard Theodore. He patted his cheeky son-in-law on the shoulders and said, "Relax, I won\'t take her back after already giving her hand to you." And he sarcastically said, "And thank you for allowing me to have this dance with my daughter. I am really honored."

He laughed again and took smiling Adeline to the center of the dance floor.

A different piece of music began filling the atmosphere of the hall. Everyone watched the graceful dance that the father and daughter were performing.

Dragomir gazed at those happy eyes of Adeline and complimented her, "You do look very happy. I am glad to see you like this." He took a sigh of relief and said, "My little girl is all grown up."

Adeline admiringly looked at her father and said, "I will always be your little girl. Thank you for everything, father."

While everyone was busy watching the father and daughter dance, the Goddess, who was standing a little further away from everyone suddenly turned her head to see a mirage of her husband beside her.

"Missed me already?" The Goddess asked the almighty with a satirical tone and a smirk on her lips.

The almighty had a calm expression on his face. He gazed at his wife and asked, "Am I not allowed to miss you? You didn\'t come back for three days."

He gently caressed his wife\'s silver hair and said, "And I was a little hurt. You didn\'t even think that it was necessary to inform me that you would be visiting Earth and also staying here for a few days."

The Goddess turned her gaze away from her husband and poked him with her words, "After looking at the things that you\'ve done, I don\'t really feel like returning back at all." She folded her arms and spoke in a dispirited tone, "Who knows, maybe I will stay here with one of my sons."

The God sighed and asked in a defeated tone, "My beloved, tell me what do I need to do to receive your forgiveness? You disregarded my verbal apologies already. What else can I do to make you come with me?"

The Goddess shrugged her shoulders and spoke mischievously, "Oh, I don\'t know… maybe try lowering your pride and meet your son? This is his big day and you are partly already here."

The almighty gazed towards the center of the hall where Adeline and Theodore were sharing their first dance now. He frowned after looking at Theodore and said, "Love, you know he did wrong and I had to punish him, both the times. Why is it me who has to lower my pride? Why can\'t you scold him for not complying with my rules?"

The Goddess gave a stern look to the God and answered, "Maybe because you are the parent and you are supposed to be forgiving?"

She then lovingly gazed at her son and daughter-in-law and said in a bit softer voice, "I know that you didn\'t just come here to take me back. You came here to witness your son\'s wedding. So why don\'t you just go there and give them both your blessing? Do you have to be so full of pretentious ego?"

"I don\'t have any ego. And even if I do, it\'s definitely not pretentious." He looked away from the newlyweds and dismissed what his wife was suggesting.

The Goddess sighed and held his hand. "I know you are dying to meet Theodore, and also Adeline. Don\'t worry thinking how he will react and just go already! He was your pampered one after all. You even bestowed the divine eyes to him when we two were the only ones who should have had it… I am sure he will forgive you eventually."

After getting nudged by his wife repeatedly, he finally took a step towards his son.

The moment he took that step, his mirage turned into the real him and the whole hall was frozen in time again. The only ones who could still move were Theodore, Adeline, Azriel, and the Goddess.

Both Adeline and Theodore were confused at first when the music suddenly stopped while they were still enjoying their dance. But it didn\'t take long for them to realize what was actually going on.

"On no! Why is he here again? What did we do now?" Adeline\'s eyes widened with fear and her heart acted as though it was about to jump out of her mouth.

Theodore was in no better condition. He clenched his fists and thought, "Is he here to take the King already? Doesn\'t he even know how to be a little considerate?"

Adeline noticed that Theodore\'s father was looking at Theodore with his scary eyes. And she thought that he was there to do something to her husband. So when God was approaching nearer and nearer, she hastily stepped in front of Theodore and glared at the almighty.

She was even ready to fight God himself if he was going to do anything to her husband.