The Devil's Temptation!

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“What were you thinking? Sending your own relative to the underground prison??” Lady Odette stared in disbelief at Azazel whose blue eyes were nowhere near reality.

He was sitting on a chair in the solar room, legs crossed while tapping his fingers lightly on the arm of the chair.

“If you feel bad for her, you can always join her. She’ll appreciate the company,” came his heartless offer and that made Lady Odette’s brow rise in obvious hesitation. She discarded it quickly and wore a look of discontentment.

“I’m highly disappointed in you Azazel, I thought you were the smartest in the Astaroth family, and to say you made this decision because of a lowlife human is nettling.”

“Funny how you complain when all I did was send her to hard labor. You knew the consequences of her act, but you didn’t stop her.” He said in a not so quiet tone, “Gretta is still young so let’s assume she made a mistake, but you’re older and hopefully wiser, yet, you didn’t stop her.”

“Mind your words and think twice before putting the blame on me, I would have stopped her if I had a clue about it, why waste her energy in taking the life of someone who’s going to end up dying anyways?” She harrumphed.

Azazel’s stern blue eyes snapped at her the moment she said it and his tapping finger paused mid-way, barely touching the arm of the chair.

.....

“How did you know?”

“And what makes you think I’d tell?” She snorted before casting him a threatening glare, “get Gretta out of that sickening place, else, I’ll make it my mission to make sure Roshan finds out about everything and how you’re secretly anticipating Anna’s death.”

Azazel’s gaze momentarily darkened like ice in winter due to the sudden threat, but he said nothing in response, silently wondering how the prying woman came to know about his intentions.

She strode to where he sat and placed a comforting pat on his shoulder, “Roshan will eventually get his memory back and if he does that before Anna’s death day, you and I know it’ll be impossible to stop him from saving her.”

A scoff left Azazel’s lips, “and who says I’m scared of Roshan?” A mirthful smirk appeared next, causing the almost triumphant smile on Odette’s lips to fade drastically.

“Roshan might be my brother, but I also have a duty to fulfill as the keeper of the limbo, Anna’s death day is close, I can feel it and she will die.”

“And Roshan?” She tried to intimidate the iceberg further, “how will he react when he realizes his own brother knew about Anna’s death since the very day he brought her here? How will he react when he finds out that you knew Anna is his reborned wife, but said nothing to satisfy your own selfish intentions.”

She tried to sense a little tension from Azazel who just looked neutral about everything and he finally said; “He won’t stop it, even if he wants to, he will figure it out, as well as my selfish intention and besides, no one in the Astaroth family is a saint.”

“What if he picks a fight?”

“Even more interesting, I’ll just give him one.”

The moment he said it, a triggering feeling surged into his head, leaving the iceberg to close his eyes for a few minutes and when he opened them back, an unreadable smile formed on his lips.

“Speak of the devil.” He uttered before shifting his gaze to Odette whose face immediately went pale-stricken as she knew exactly who Azazel was referring to.

“Want to say hi, Aunt?”

“I’m done with this conversation!” She haughtily walked out, leaving Azazel alone in the solar room and when he closed his eyes, he tsked.

“You bastard, you finally chose to use the mind Array.” He cursed the glacier in his head.

~

The maids who were seriously eavesdropping on the conversation instantly shuffled themselves back to work when Lady Odette walked past them with quick steps.

From the look on her face, it was easy to tell she was in a very foul mood and not even the maids dared to speak or pass a greeting as they kept themselves busy with one or two things.

The moment she was completely out of sight, a maid stopped what she was doing and hmphed out her displeasure, “his highness Roshan really shouldn’t get involved with humans at all. I mean look at what one human girl is causing to the Astaroth family.”

“More to say she’s a lowlife and not up to his highness’s standard,” another maid who was skillfully dusting the stairs added, “I can’t help but wonder what his highness sees in her.”

Another maiden who carried an appalling look on her face whispered to the two gossiping maidens, ” human’s can not be trusted, after what his highness had to go through in their hands, I’m surprised to see he’s still mingling with them.”

“Is it possible she’s using a magic charm?”

“All you ladies know how to do is gossip all day.” Becca unhurriedly walked past while holding a tray of fresh milk on a glass.

Her unforseen presence startled the three maidens who were almost bowing their heads to apologize for eavesdropping, but after seeing it was neither the head-maid or lady Odette, their minds settled.

“I think Anna is nice,” Becca continued with a smile, “and she has good conviviality, you all should really leave the innocent lady alone.”

“Since when did you start supporting a human?” Asked a maid who eyed Becca from head to toe, but Becca met the maid’s stare with a smile as though she pitied her.

“I’m not supporting anyone, I’m just looking at things from Anna’s view. She has suffered enough already and backbiting about her all day won’t change the fact that his highness Roshan has a lot of interest in her.”

She turned to look at the corridor where Odette had angrily taken and her brows rose, “oh, and I think lady Odette is coming back....”

“What?!” The maidens immediately panicked and dismissed themselves from the stairs, leaving Becca to stand alone at the top of the grand stairs since everyone had chosen to disappear from sight.

“That scared them real quick.” She smiled at the result before shaking her head hopelessly and heading towards Gemma’s chamber with the tray of milk.

“I hope they’re both alright.” She murmured to herself while thinking about Annalise and Roshan with a look of genuine concern.

~

Ark Ville

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The sky had visibly turned dark blue and Anna laid her back on the soft leaves resting on the ground, looking up while counting the thousand stars that twinkle brightly in the sky.

“So many of them.” She whispered to herself, unaware that a certain glacier had his gaze fixated on her. He watched as her expression turned into one of curiosity, then doubt, followed by a twinkling spark in her eyes as she continuously gazed at the stars above.

“Are you done?”

His voice broke her from her thoughts and she met his gaze, a bit surprised to see he was done already.

“I should be asking you.” She got her body into a sitting position as hope glinted in her eyes.

“Did you reach Azazel? Please don’t tell me you lost interest again.”

“I did.” He clicked his tongue, “and that white-haired jerk dared to call me bastard before I could say anything.”

Annalise couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at his expression, already looking displeased like a child whose candy got snatched from him.

“I’m sure your parents really had it full with you.” She joked heartily, but her giggling slowly faded after seeing the light in his eyes weaken and he averted his gaze.

“Something like that.”

Anna slowly shifted closer to him, she could see he was holding back a lot of things that concerned his parents and families. To be honest, only Levi and Gemma happened to be the odd ones out of all of them.

“Can I ask you something?”

He remained silent for a while, quietly pondering on whether to say yes or not.

“What?”

She took a deep breath and she barely knew how those words slipped from her mouth.

“What was the relationship like between your parents?”