She Belongs To The Devil

Zach was sitting on the sofa in the common room and was waiting for the others to come out as well. But no one came outside even after he waited for one whole minute. So he sighed and mumbled, "Ah! What's taking everyone so long? Are they wearing the battle suits or something?"

He glanced at Ariel's door and then smirked again. He swiftly got up on his feet and ran to knock on Ariel's door.

"Ary, what are you doing in there?" he rested his ear on Ariel's door and asked.

"Getting ready."

Zach furrowed his brows and shouted again, "You were already ready when you came to see Damien earlier. Come out already. I know you are just walking back and forth in your room."

Inside the room, Ariel was indeed pacing back and forth. She abruptly came to a halt and then asked, "Are everyone else ready?"

Zach then replied, "No one is coming outside. I need your company. Please come out. I'm already bored."

Ariel unwillingly walked out of the room while hoping that Zach wouldn't try to pry into the things she was trying to hide.

However, as soon as Ariel stepped out of her room, Zach put his arm around her shoulder and asked in a whisper, "Ary, are you hiding something from me?"

Ariel felt as if her heart dropped at that moment. However, she tried her best not to look nervous and replied, "Why would I hide anything from you?"

"Who knows?" Zach made Ariel walk and sit down on the sofa. He looked into her eyes and he inquisitively said, "Maybe you did something wrong? Something very wrong which you needed to hide from us."

Ariel nervously turned her head away and denied, "I didn't do anything wrong. Now stop hovering over me like a fly and sit down."

Zach smiled and sat down beside her. "Okay, if you say so," he murmured. However, he was only going to give rest to that topic for now.

After a while, Ramon and Niylah also walked out of their respective rooms almost at the same time.

"It's quite cold here, isn't it?" Niylah asked while blowing warm air on her palms and rubbing them together.

Ramon sniffled and agreed, "Yes, it's quite chilly. Maybe we should have brought some warm clothes as well."

The twins squeezed themselves onto the same sofa where Ariel and Zach were sitting so that they could feel a little warmer.

Zach looked at the shivering twins and said, "It's not that cold. The weather is perfect here."

"Maybe for you. But definitely not for us," Ramon mumbled while clattering his teeth. And he asked again, "What time is it? Isn't it time for breakfast? I hope that they will be serving something hot."

Zach turned to look at Kenneth's door and replied, "It's almost time for breakfast. But we need the two competitors to get their butts here before we can head out."

"Shh..." Ariel furrowed her brows and then gestured for Zach to keep quiet.

Ariel then turned to her other side and held Niylah's hand. It was ice-cold. So she asked her cousin, "Shall I warm the room?"

"No, it's okay. It's not dangerously cold like in winter." Niylah then snuggled with Ariel.

Finally, Kenneth walked out of his room while apologizing, "I'm so sorry! Did I make you all wait for long?"

"No, it's alright," Ariel replied with a smile on her face.

Kenneth ran his fingers through his wet blond hair and asked, "Shall we head towards the dining hall then?"

"Damien isn't here yet," Ariel said in a low voice.

"Maybe he is packing his bags to bring them here. I asked him to do so," Zach added.

Kenneth gave a nod and then briefed the Royals, "My parents won't be joining us for the breakfast. But the ministers will. They might want to discuss some issues like the possibilities of expanding our trades or things like that."

He then glanced at Ariel and assured her, "But it's not a formal meeting so, you don't have to take the talks seriously."

Ariel let go of the breath that she was holding and smiled. "That's a relief then. I don't yet know much about the diplomatic meetings."

"It's alright. Think of it as a normal discussion and nothing more," Kenneth replied and then glanced at Damien's door because he felt like he heard some noise.

There was silence in the common room for a while. And soon, they all heard some sounds coming from Damien's room.

After a few moments, Damien walked out looking no less than a Prince. He was wearing a black surcoat that fell down to his ankles. Outside that, he was wearing a black long robe with golden borders. He had tied his explosives around his waist.

He had neatly combed his reddish brown hair. He also smelled really nice, he had that subtle musky scent coming off of him.

Everyone's eyes were glued to Damien as if they were seeing something fascinating. Even Kenneth looked enthralled by Damien's regal aura.

Damien, on the other hand, felt a little nervous when all of them kept on staring at him without even blinking. He gave a subtle smile and asked in his husky voice, "Am I too late? I came back as soon as I could."

Ariel suddenly sprung up on her feet and said, "You're right on time. We were about to head out."

"That's great then. Let's go," Damien gave a wide smile to Ariel and waited for the Royals to start walking towards him since he was standing close to the corridor than them.

For a few seconds, no one moved an inch. So Damien gestured his hand towards the corridor and asked, "Shall we?"

"Oh, right!" Ariel turned and glanced at Kenneth.

And Kenneth cleared his throat and walked forward after saying, "This way, everyone."

Kenneth glanced at Damien when he reached by his side. He kept on walking while mumbling softly, "I see that you took your time to get ready. You look pretty decent."

Damien smirked and caught up with Kenneth. And he also said in a low voice, "You don't look half bad yourself." He glanced at Kenneth's waistcoat and sincerely complimented him, "I like that half robe with pockets that you're wearing. It looks interesting."

Kenneth couldn't help but laugh when he heard Damien naming his waistcoat as a half robe.

Damien frowned and asked, "What was so funny?"

Kenneth controlled his laughter. He tugged his waistcoat a little and then corrected Damien, "This isn't half robe. It's called a waistcoat. If you like it then I can ask the Royal tailor to sew one for you. Or I can ask him to sew a whole set for you."

"No, it's alright." Damien denied the offer politely because he couldn't outright say that he wanted one too.

All the others were walking behind Damien and Kenneth.

And Zach couldn't believe his eyes when he saw those two getting all chummy.

"Psst…" Zach leaned close to Ariel and asked in a whisper, "Are my eyes deceiving me, or are the two of them getting along for real?"

Ariel shrugged and replied in a whisper, "I have the same question."

Niylah was listening to their whispers. So she asked Ariel, "I think I heard those two fighting in the morning. What was that about?"

"So they already started fighting, huh?" Ramon, who was so out of the loop, tried to understand what was going on.

Zach trotted in between Niylah and Ramon. He knew the obvious that those men were fighting over Ariel.

So he excitedly replied to the twins, "Yes, they argued in the morning. I think they were trying to assert their dominance over Ariel like Alphas trying to assert their dominance over their territory."

Ariel glared at Zach and aggressively whispered, "Shut your mouth before I seal it shut, Zach."

Zach instantly covered his mouth with his palm and looked away from Ariel.

Ariel then whispered again while glaring at the backs of Damien and Kenneth, "I am not some territory to be won over. They don't get to assert their dominance or whatever on me."

Damien and Kenneth were obviously listening to everyone who was behind them. And they both gave a blaming gaze to one another after listening to what Ariel said about them.