She Belongs To The Devil

Unlike their original plan to roam around the forest after visiting the town, Kenneth asked his guests to return to the castle.

"I don't think it is safe to be roaming in the forest after what happened earlier," he said to his guests.

And Ariel and the others couldn't agree more.

Ariel gave a nod and said, "Yes, I think we should call it a day today. We can do something interesting within the castle boundaries."

"Ooh! I know!" Zach shot his hand up in the air and said, "We can have a sparring session. And I already have the pair who will be facing each other in mind. I will fight Ramon, Niylah will fight Ariel, and Damien and Kenneth will go against each other."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Damien smirked and looked at Kenneth. He was the first one to agree to the match with Kenneth.

And all the others also agreed to Zach's proposal.

"It's settled then. No one can back out." Zach gave a satisfied smile.

They all then headed back towards the gate of the town.

And after walking for about five minutes, Zach slouched and complained, "I am already tired after walking for the whole day though. How am I going to fight?"

Ramon was quick enough to remind Zach what he had said earlier, "Hey, you said it yourself. No backing out."

"I know." Zach took a deep breath in and turned to glance at Ariel. And he asked, "Can't we teleport back to where our horses are instead of walking all the way there?"

"We can't. There are so many eyes on us." Ariel denied it outright.

And they kept on walking while listening to continuous whining from Zach. At one point, Ariel even considered finding some deserted corner and then teleporting him. However, such an opportunity didn't arrive at all since there weren't any streets that were completely devoid of people.

In the end, they walked all the way back to the barn.

Zach spread out his arms as soon as he saw the white horse that he rode in the morning. And he ran while shouting, "Horsie… I missed you so much…"

He hugged the horse and then lovingly scratched its neck.

Ariel smiled and mumbled, "Ah! The drama queen is finally happy."

All of them then got on their horses and headed back to the castle. Unlike in the morning, they all didn't race their horses but took them back slowly.

When they reached the castle, the guards followed the Royals while carrying all the goods that the Princes and Princesses they served had bought from the town. After bringing all the bags to the respective rooms of the Princes and Princesses, the guards left.

The boys and girls then decided to take a half an hour break and then meet in the common room. After that, they were going to have the duels.

Ariel went inside her room and checked out the bags and packages that were on the floor.

She subtly smiled when her eyes fell on a small bag. She grabbed that bag and then took out the horns that Damien had worn in that props shop.

Damien had scolded everyone who wanted to buy that for him. But she had sneakily bought it after everyone walked outside that shop.

Ariel giggled while looking at that pair of horns and thought, "It's going to be fun to tease him by showing these."

"Let's see where it is…" In another room, Zach rummaged through his bags and finally found the poncho which Damien had bought for him.

He instantly put it on and checked his reflection in the mirror. "Hehe… I look so handsome…" he praised himself and looked at himself from all angles. The black poncho had a few yellow stripes on it. It came a little below his thigh. And it also had a hood attached to it.

"Damien…" he shouted from within his room to thank Damien for the gift. But when he didn't hear Damien back, he ran towards Damien's room while flaunting the poncho.

"Damien…"

Before Zach could bang on the door, Damien opened it and waited for him to enter the room.

"Hey. What happened?" Damien asked as he took off his surcoat.

Damien was now only in his tight undergarment. He was facing the other way than Zach at the moment. And he bent down slightly to pick up his trousers from his luggage.

Zach naughtily smiled and complimented Damien, "You have nice bums."

Damien looked over the shoulder and asked, "Did you come here to tell me that?"

Zach trotted in front of Damien while grinning. And he twirled to show off his new poncho. "I look so good in this, right? Thanks for the gift."

Damien smiled and replied, "I'm glad that you like it."

He put on his trousers and then sat down to chat with Zach. And shortly after, Damien heard Kenneth calling for Ariel.

However, because Zach was still blabbering on about how his legs hurt, Damien couldn't clearly hear what Kenneth was saying to Ariel.

So he got up and took out a random edible that he had bought and handed it over to Zach. "Eat this. Your legs will stop hurting."

It was a bar of dark chocolate.

"Really?" Zach took the chocolate and immediately tore off the wrapper and munched on it.

Zach felt as if his taste buds were dancing. He widened his eyes and sang the praise, "Oh heavens! This tastes like sweets that Joyce used to bring for us… but at the same time it tastes so different… differently good."

Damien walked towards the door while saying, "It only works if you eat it quietly."

"Oh!" Zach instantly closed his mouth and ate the chocolate in silence.

Damien then focused on Kenneth's voice. And he heard him say, "I noticed that Damien bought these for everyone else but you. So I thought that maybe you would also want one."

"That little rat!" Damien clenched his jaw and swore to give one extra punch to Kenneth during the duel just to get back at what he just said.

Outside, Ariel was standing at her door and Kenneth was standing in front of her.

"I like the color," Ariel replied after seeing the carmine-colored poncho in Kenneth's hand.

Kenneth gave a subtle smile and asked, "Shall I help you put this on? I want to see how it looks on you."

Ariel nodded her head and let him help her.

After Ariel wore the poncho on top of her gown, Kenneth adjusted her hair and looked at her. He took a deep breath in and smiled. Kenneth was hypnotized by Ariel's beauty. Her beauty stood out even more because of the color of the poncho.

"Dark red really suits you," he whispered.

Ariel looked down at the poncho and thanked him, "Thank you for such a wonderful gift. I really like it."

"I like it too." Kenneth pulled up the hood of that poncho over her head. And he whispered to her in his low and deep voice, "You look so beautiful."

"Thank you!" Ariel lifted her head and smiled.

But then she breathed in through her mouth when she saw Kenneth's face inching closer to her.

Kenneth shifted his palms from Ariel's hood to her cheeks. His crystal red eyes were focused on Ariel's soft pink lips which were parted ever so slightly.

He lightly caressed her lips with his thumb to let her know his intention.

He looked into her honey-like eyes and noticed that she was gazing at his lips.

He gave a soft smile to her. After so many failed attempts until now, he finally leaned down and pressed his cold lips on her soft and warm lips.