The Devil's Temptation!

For the first time, he was starting to notice the beauty of the sunset and he only took his time to notice it today, due to the fact Anna usually gets lost in it most of the time and now, he understood why.

The clouds are painted in ever-changing colors as they turn from bright orange, to hot pink and then looking magically as green as jade as minutes pass by.

Indeed it was a beauty to reflect on.

A light wind swayed the trees in the garden in a soft rustling caress, it brought a surge of new memories and emotions that invaded his soul like a tempest, to the point his lashes flickered in reaction.

“You asked for me.” Came the voice of an indifferent demon who stood at the entrance of the balcony, staring straight at the glacier who’s warm gaze remained fixed on the beauty of the sunset. He barely turned around or looked the least curious to see who had stepped in, as though he already knew who it was.

“Yeah.” His calm, subtle response left Azazel surprisingly puzzled as he arched his right brow. He didn’t fail to notice his brother’s tone sounded faint, quite lower and less authoritative than usual.

He moved farther to stand beside him, equally letting his gaze fall to the evening sky and he seemed pretty clueless on why Roshan was staring at it so intently, except for the fact the air in the balcony was welcoming and soft as milk, he didn’t find anything special about it.

“You just got back, shouldn’t you be resting for tomorrow?” Azazel broke the peaceful silence with his snoopy question, turning his blue eyes to look at the pulchritudinous being who’s gaze was still focused on the evening sky.

.....

“I’m fine.” He rolled his eyes while feeling the wind whistle against his ears. It was nothing but a little training he has today, yet everyone keeps insisting he rests and treating him like a child.

He’s got a lot on his mind at the moment to even think about resting.

“Why’d you send for me?”

“I need a favor from you.” He directly said to the icy demon and somehow, Azazel had already sensed it to be his reason. If Roshan doesn’t need something from him, then they won’t even be having this conversation.

“What is it?”

“I figured out a way to get rid of Anna’s meteor mark.” He apprised, finally turning his head to meet Azazel’s indifferent stare, “but I need your help in order to get rid of it. You’re the one in charge of the limbo, so you play a major role in it.”

At the mention of the limbo, Azazel’s gaze turned a bit serious and his face paled a little. Roshan was already done asking for his favors but even when Azazel sensed he’d still come back, never did he see this particular favor coming.

Roshan figured it out???

How??

“What do you need me to do?”

“According to the solution which I don’t need to tell you how I knew about it, a meteor mark can only be gotten rid of if someone chooses to claim the tragic fate for himself...” he briefed and suddenly paused in his words, expecting Azazel to figure out the rest by himself but the white-haired demon just blinked.

“And...”

Seeing he still wasn’t getting it, Roshan opened it up to him, “I need you to switch our fate before the day comes, I’m willing to take that burden of her which means, Anna won’t be the one dying anytime soon, I will.”

~

At the courtyard...

Everyone was seated on the round table at the courtyard, happily conversing and sharing interesting stories about their childhood that led to some of the lady’s giggling in reaction.

The servers quickly cleared the tables while Anna stood behind Melrose, obediently attending to her needs and the same went for every other guest present in the courtyard.

Lady Iris picked up a napkin neatly placed by her side of the table and dabbed the corner of her lips in a lady-like manner, before returning her gaze to Lady Odette who sipped from her glass of wine.

“Aunt, since our arrival, we haven’t seen Gretta anywhere, or was she not informed of our presence too?” Asked the curious lady Iris and Laura who sat opposite her table, nodded in agreement.

“I agree, Gretta always said something about how breathtaking she’d look at the family ball and her tongue was always so sharp about it. It’s funny we can’t find her around when the day is already so close. Did she change her mind?”

At the mention of Gretta, lady Odette stopped with her drinking and all eyes were currently fixated on her, waiting to hear about the whereabouts of Gretta and she just smiled, dropping her cup on the table with a light click.

“You don’t have to worry, Gretta will be here tomorrow for the family ball.” She outrightly assured them and said nothing more.

Anna, who was pouring a cup of berry juice for Melrose, hesitated a bit at the mention of Gretta being available for the family ball tomorrow.

Her brows wrinkled in obvious consternation due to Lady Odette’s promising words. Isn’t she locked in the dungeon and currently facing hard labor? How does the elder lady plan to make her presence even possible?

Roseline on the other hand, quietly ate her delicious carrageen pudding without adding to the matter, unwilling to be part of the conversation happening and it didn’t miss her sister’s notice.

“Sister,” Melrose sweetly called, “tomorrow’s the main family ball day, and you’re being so negatively quiet. Tell me, how do you plan on getting prepared since you’ve decided to be his highnesses mate?”

The rest of the demoness looked away while some avoided making eye contact but in all, it was just a funny attempt to stifle the laughter that continuously bubbled inside of them.

Lady Melrose can be heartless sometimes, after everything that happened downstairs, must she remind her sister about it.

“Oh! That’s true!” Lady Iris teasingly added, “since Roseline sees herself as the future mate, then we can all be her bridesmaid for the wedding, don’t you think? I mean his highness chose a–”

“Thank you for your concern,” Roseline rudely interjected her with a smile, “but save it for the rest who need it when I do eventually get picked.”

Meanwhile, Anna felt really uncomfortable about the new topic Melrose had chosen to put forth. She didn’t need to look before realizing the death stares that were sent her way were from Roseline.

The clueless lady Odette and Aunt Letitia exchanged glances, obviously looking unfamiliar about the topic being disclosed before them and when Roseline got a chance to spill the beans on Anna, she instantly yelled.

“Look! His highness!” She pointed towards the balcony where Roshan and Azazel stood together, obviously having what looked like an extremely serious conversation, but the demoness were too excited by the sight of them to even notice.

“His highness!” Roseline was the first to get to her feet after sighting him ahead. She would use this opportunity to apologize to his highness and settle the little argument they had earlier.

“Your highness!” Since the lady’s barely got a chance to see him due to a lot of controversial issues, they were significantly lightened that they got a chance to see him before the night of the ball, even though they couldn’t reach him.

“They don’t seem to hear us.”

Roseline pointed at the bridge, “maybe they’ll hear us from there?”

Out of excitement, all the lady’s complied and ran towards the bridge, except for Melrose who thinks they are acting out of elegance and remained seated with Aunt Letitia and the few important guests that joined the little celebration.

The gardener wanted to stop them from going through the bridge but was pushed aside, leading to his fall and Anna wasted no time going to assist him. Surprisingly taken aback by the unnecessary push.

“Are you alright sir?”

“The bridge is unstable, I tried to warn them but I got this in return.”

Anna had seen it herself and it was high time those demoness learnt their lessons. She felt glad the gardener couldn’t stop them and now, more than six demoness were standing on the bridge, waving at both Roshan and Azazel who finally glanced in their direction.

“Your highness, it’s me Roseline!” She pointed at herself, wanting Roshan to look in her direction and all of a sudden.

‘CRACK!’

The first cracking sound spoke of the bridges failing strength to hold them for much longer and instead of adhering to the sound, they were captivated by the sight of Roshan and Azazel to even take notice and suddenly.

‘CRACK! CRACK!!’

‘SPLASH!!’

The screams of lady’s falling to the water below the bridge caught everyone’s attention.