The Devil's Temptation!

Meanwhile in Euphrasia, the royal guards were jubilating and having a good time at one of the famous taverns close to Draekharm village.

“Cheers to his Majesty’s new courtier!!” The whole tavern resonated with their male upbeat voices as everyone of them clinked their drinks to celebrate Arlow’s new promotion.

The man being celebrated, proudly got to his feet while holding out his glass of beer, looking lordly ready to address everyone present in the tavern, he finally began, “It is within my utmost power to pay the drinks of every soul present here, as a little token for my... promotion.” He giggled sheepishly as other joyous cheers echoed through the tavern.

Just hearing his name being praised was enough to take his mind straight to cloud nine as he raised his drink up.

“Drink! Eat! Enjoy yourself, you have nothing to worry about with sir Arlow around.”

“Hail the new courtier!” One of the guards’ voices rang out.

“Hail!!” The rest happily chorused.

Admist all the jubilation going on, a certain being wearing an ash colored cloak hid in the shadows, his Hazel-green eyes flashed with fury seeing as the person responsible for his Anna’s tears was here jubilating over a fucking promotion!!

.....

At this point, he wanted nothing more but to cut that imprudent’s tongue out of his mouth so he can shut up for once, but in other to achieve that, he has to hold onto his patience if he wanted to picture that torture as a reality, one slip and he might be caught.

Reminding himself of his sole reason for even showing up here to see the despicable man, he hid himself in the shadows again.

After the whole celebration had ended, each guard grabbed a woman they’d use to pleasure themselves for the night before departing. Arlow on the other hand, didn’t bother as he already had up to two women waiting in his den.

Already drunk from too much drinking, he waved the rest goodnight before staggering his way through the lonely path, singing and humming who knows what to himself.

The lanterns being lit were able to provide the wide path with a source of light and he walked unsteadily with a foolish grin on his face. Unbeknownst to him, a certain demon was following him like a hawk from behind, not even his footsteps could be heard and he brought out his daggers from his waist pocket, his eyes glinting with a primal need for blood as they turned frighteningly red.

Arlow suddenly stopped walking as though he sensed a presence behind him, the type that made the hair on his skin stand at attention, causing his nerves to tremble for no particular reason. Somehow alarmed by the strange bizarre air that followed him, he swiftly turned around, almost losing his balance and falling to the ground since he was unstable, but he managed to get a hold of himself.

Looking at the path before him, there was no one there, the path was just as lonely as a graveyard but then again, why should he be scared?

He was a brave man who had dealt with many Demons and managed to get what he wanted, the fact he successfully made it as the king’s courtier is one of his victorious examples. In no time, he’ll get rid of the king and his son, then take over the throne too.

Laughing at his evil thoughts, he continued to walk, unaware of the fact that this walk of his would end up being his last.

Seeing as he had left, Roshan stepped out of his hiding corner and let his bloody red eyes follow the man till he was out of sight, fully aware of all of his evil intentions and he still has no idea how he’s letting that man go.

“This is going to be a long night.” His lips curved into a devilish smirk and he followed him.

~

When the sun finally sipped out from the horizon, indicating it was morning time, Anna had dressed herself for the day before proceeding to pick the notepad and circled the 5th day on it. She dropped it back in her drawer when a knock suddenly came in and the next thing her mind could think of was Roshan.

Getting to her feet, she hurried to go open the door and truly, it was him, standing before her doorway with his hypnotizing eyes locked on hers.

“Ready?” Came his question as he looked her over.

Exhaling softly and gathering herself, she nodded before stepping out of the room and closing the door shut behind her. She wanted to visit her parents’ graveyard, and she would do it with Roshan by her side.

Before they got a chance to leave, the elder lady of the palace, lady Odette ended up crossing paths with the both of them and to be honest, she wasn’t surprised to see Roshan and his human maid back in Viscarrian, but she was disappointed.

“Don’t you think you’ve ruined the family’s name enough?” She questioned the glacier who just stared at her as though she was a disturbing bug that was difficult to get rid off.

“Like leaving the palace and refusing to take the throne wasn’t enough, you cling yourself to a simpleton as her.” She eyed the young lady who stood beside Roshan, but Anna wasn’t in the position to speak back as it might come out rude, so Roshan did the talking.

“Aunt.” He smirked, “ruining the family’s name wasn’t my intention, you see I actually plan to ‘destroy’ it as well as the stupid politics that father implemented.” Taking a single step towards her that showed his unscathed authority and power, he wasn’t glaring at the slightest, but the dark look in his eyes was enough to make her look away.

“Until those higher Demons are willing to do my bidding, no one is taking that throne.” He made it very clear before looking over his shoulder to see the pretty young lady standing quietly behind him.

“As long as you’re in this palace or as long as you wish to stay here..” he met his Aunt’s glaring gaze, “...no one will go near her, else I will make it rain blood on you.”

Holding Anna’s hand, he interlaced their fingers together, leaving Lady Odette’s face to turn grave at the sight.

“This isn’t over, when I return, I’d like to know where our modest Gretta disappeared to.”

At the mention of Gretta, lady Odette couldn’t bring herself to speak again. Eyeing the woman with obvious disgust, Roshan took Anna away from the woman’s sight.

Anna couldn’t help but smile to herself as he took her away, still keeping their fingers interlaced. His expression was stoic as usual when she looked at him and he barely glanced her way, but it didn’t matter since she had come to realize that he genuinely cares for her.

He also made her realize one thing, he made her realize that most people who view the world as an abiding darkness and walk around as if they’re the heartless ones, when on the contrary, they’re the ones with the biggest of hearts, except his heart was shattered at a very tender age.

A part of her felt sad for him on that part, but she smiled regardless, knowing that there was still some good in Roshan.

But she wondered if he was going to take her to parents grave first, or somewhere else.