She Belongs To The Devil

[Three days ago]

After disappearing from the Wyverndale Palace, Damien returned back to his room in Hell.

He sat on the floor while holding his head with both of his hands. And he thought back to what he had heard and what he had seen while he was in Wyverndale.

"She really has someone who is trying to win her over. And he is a damned hybrid!"

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"Ugh!" Damien tightened his grip on his hair.

And he blabbered on his own, "Why? Why did that hybrid have to exist? And why did he have to go after Ariel? Why come all the way to Wyverndale? Didn't he find any decent woman in his own Kingdom?"

He flopped down on the cold floor. And he answered himself, "But Ariel would put all other women to shame. She can enchant anyone with her talk and her laughs."

Damien kept on lying down on the cold floor for a while. The whole time, one thing that he had heard earlier in Wyverndale kept on bugging his head.

"What are they going to do in the forest? It sure didn't sound like they were going hunting. And it sure didn't sound like they were going to simply talk."

Damien screamed in an irritated voice.

Then he immediately got up on his feet. "I need to find out. It's killing me from the inside. I will go mad if I don't see what they are up to."

But he clenched his fists and stopped himself. "But I don't want to creepily spy on her. I don't want to do that."

He paced back and forth in his room and tried to reason with his heart which was pushing him to go back to Wyverndale again.

"I can't… do that. Yes, I can't. Do that… I can definitely do that. I mean, I am not going to spy on Ariel. I am going to spy on that damned hybrid. What if he is up to no good?

He could have some hidden agenda behind wanting to take Ariel to his Kingdom. I am sure he is hiding something. I have to uncover that truth."

After going back and forth with himself, Damien finally decided to teleport back to the Palace.

"Oh, right!" Before teleporting, he put on the invisibility spell on himself. He also hid his aura so that he wouldn't leave behind a trail.

Damien then teleported near the back gate of the Palace.

After arriving back at the Wyverndale Palace, he couldn't help but look around. Every corner he looked at, he would recall his childhood memories with Ariel and the others.

He recalled playing hide and seek with all of them, he recalled sparring with Ramon, he recalled sneaking some snacks with Ariel, he recalled his banters with Joyce, and he recalled the cute Zach who used to follow him around.

Damien smiled and thought, "Those were some good times. I wonder how everyone is doing."

He heaved a sigh before walking towards the forest.

"I hope they are just taking a stroll and nothing more," he thought to himself as he kept on walking deeper inside the forest while looking for Ariel.

After walking for a while, Damien heard soft murmurs coming from somewhere. He swiftly followed the voices and finally saw Ariel and Kenneth.

They were standing while facing each other and were talking about some pain and healing.

Damien focused his gaze on Ariel. This time, he got to take a good look at her face.

He instantly clasped his mouth and his nose. His eyes were wide open. His blood rushed to his cheeks and his ears. And he was unable to think or hear anything else. All he could see was her.

He was dumbfounded by her angelic face, her hair, her cute height, and everything.

He was glad that he stopped at a safer distance. Because if he had not, then he was sure his heartbeat would sound like a fast-beating drum right now.

However, his excitement was short-lived.

Damien witnessed Ariel casually ripping that hybrid's shirt and pressing her palm against his chest. It looked like she was feeling his heartbeat.

And just like that, his heart got shattered into pieces.

He teleported back to his room again. He dropped on his bed like a dead fish. His empty eyes stared at the ceiling.

And he thought to himself, "Was I too late?"

---

The next day, Damien didn't feel like doing anything.

Every time he would recall that scene where he had witnessed Ariel with that other man, he would feel as if his heart was being crushed over and over again.

And every time, he would blame himself for not making up with Ariel soon enough.

"I pushed her away. I told her to forget me. And we were just kids when we last met. It isn't like we were lovers or anything. So, why…" Damien clenched his fist over his chest and mumbled in a shaky voice, "So, why am I feeling this way? Why do I feel as if she betrayed me when… argh!"

He started hitting his forehead with his fist and tried to calm himself down. "She was my best friend… Shouldn't I be happy that she found someone? Shouldn't I be happy that she moved on... if she was ever stuck on me?"

"It was just me who couldn't forget her." He recalled to their old times and thought, "And it was just me who had fallen in love with her back then. I was the one who kept on clinging to those childhood memories and childhood love."

Damien went back to staring blankly as he thought, "Maybe… it's time for me to give up on her. I was never there for her for the past 9 years of our lives. And I can't just barge into her life when she already looks happy with that man."

He suddenly sprung up on the bed.

He furrowed his brows and thought, "But what if that man is just trying to use her? Ariel isn't an ordinary lady. She is the daughter of the Devil Prince and the Queen of a powerful kingdom. She is the granddaughter of the creator of the universe. And she's all-powerful."

"Wouldn't it be every man's dream to marry her? And anyone can put on a façade until they achieve what they are after."

Damien then resolutely said to himself, "I will have to make sure that the man that Ariel has chosen is indeed good for her. That's the least I can do for her."

Although his heart ached when he said that, he wanted to put Ariel's happiness before his own. "I could be selfish and try to win her again. But I might end up hurting her even more if I did that. I have already done enough to hurt her. I don't want to pile up my sins."

Damien then thought of finding more about that man. He wanted to know if he behaved consistently in front as well as behind Ariel's back. If he did not, then Damien thought of teaching him a lesson for trying to use his friend.

He sighed and thought, "They said that they were starting their journey early in the morning, right? It's afternoon now."

"They should be on the road at this hour, meaning Ariel will be inside a carriage. If I teleport now then there is a high chance that I might bump into her, quite literally! And my plan to spy on that man will be in jeopardy if I get discovered. I better wait until the nightfall."