The Devil's Temptation!

“She wants the wedding in two days.” He told them, but unlike him who looked bothered about it, they saw no problem with that.

“So? Shouldn’t you be happy she wants it in two days?” Azazel questioned, taking a bite out the red apple in his grasp.

“That is the problem,” he admitted, “I should be happy, but I’m not.” He ran his finger through his hair, “I feel something’s off, I can’t explain it but I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Roshan couldn’t guess why he’s so uncomfortable with the feeling. His bond with Anna felt so distant, like she was Far Away from him, but he was with her this morning, and still the biting feeling didn’t dissipate.

“Does that explain why she didn’t come for practice?” When Anna didn’t show up, Levi was worried he might have upset her when he told her to stay away from something that wasn’t her concern.

He felt really guilty after that, and was hoping to apologize when she shows up for practice. Unfortunately, she didn’t, and he got really nervous that she might have taken it seriously.

“Is she upset about something, perhaps?” Levi pushed on a question, wanting to get an answer in case Anna had said something to him, but Roshan shook his head in response.

“Why would she? Anna rarely gets upset.” He remarked, and Levi’s heart eased. So it’s possible she wasn’t upset with him then, but why didn’t she come for practice.

.....

“Azazel….”

“Can’t help you today, I’m busy.” He cut Roshan off before taking another bite of his apple. It was obvious his mind was barely in their conversation, and he equally looked disturbed about something, which was unusual for someone like him.

“Any problem?” Roshan folded his arms, “you seem lost in your own cloud, explain.”

Azazel shrugged, “it’s nothing.”

“Spill it out.”

“I’m going to see Calista today.” He admitted, turning his attention to the two Demons who blinked in surprise. From their looks, they surely didn’t expect he’d utter something like that.

“Hey, it’s not what you think.” He eyed them with disgust, feeling ashamed of where their minds had drifted to, “she’s helping me get the sword and I need little information from her regarding the dark forest.” He explained.

Levi’s eyes brightened at the news, “she agreed?!”

“Yeah.” He looked away, “there’s a poem she said that was written about the dark forest. I’m curious to hear what the poem says about the dark forest before knowing what step I should take next.”

“Wow,” Roshan, who was clueless about everything, couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Princess Calista is so nice, she’s helping you despite the fact you rejected her so coldly,” he gave Azazel a glare before looking away, “hmph! If I were her, I wouldn’t help you out, instead, I’ll happily get married to the fiancee she has, I heard he’s a really nice man.”

Roshan’s brow rose in exclamation, and he turned to look at Azazel, wondering when all this happened and he was unaware of it.

“Shut up, what do you know?” He shoved the apple he was eating into Levi’s mouth to silence him, and the young Demon coughed it out.

“Hey! You just ate from that, I don’t want to have your germs.”

“Saying it like you haven’t already started developing one yourself!”

“You.!!.”

Roshan rolled his eyes as he was stuck in the middle of two bantering siblings. Putting Azazel and Levi together was always a problem, because as long as they’re together, an argument was bound to occur.

“You won’t win an argument against Azazel,” Roshan patted Levi’s shoulder, “let it slide, you have no germs.”

Azazel scoffed and removed Roshan’s hand from the lad’s shoulder, “touch him and you’ll be contacted, it’s called spreading viruses and I care for you to let you get infected.”

“Arrgh!! I’ve had it with you!” Levi angrily dashed towards Azazel who moved out of the way, “don’t touch me you psychopath.”

“I swear I’m going to_” he threatened as he chased Azazel down the stairs.

“Those two never learn.” Roshan shook his head, feeling helpless about their situation. It suddenly felt like the old times when they usually went out together. He was the focused one while Azazel can never be focused as long as Levi was around.

“Old memories are indeed precious.” Came the voice of Aunt Letitia as she stood beside Roshan, equally watching as Levi chased Azazel till they were out of sight.

“Aunt.”

“Don’t forget them.” She added, turning her attention to Roshan who sized her up with his gaze.

“When did you return?”

“An hour ago.” She composed herself before letting out a deep breath. “Don’t you think it’s time you let Gretta out of there. You haven’t gone to see her once, and she’s been crying and pleading for your forgiveness ever since.”

“If you’re here to speak with me about Gretta, then forget it Aunt. I won’t be nice to anyone who tries to hurt Anna. If she rots in there or not, it really isn’t my concern.”

“Don’t say things like that, she’s part of the family too.” Aunt Letitia cooly reprimanded him, “let her out this once, and I promise I’ll keep her behavior in check from now on. Anna has already forgiven her, why can’t you?”

“Cause I’m not Anna who has a forgiven heart, if she’s really feeling bad about her actions, she has to prove it to me. Until then, I am not convinced.”

And he walked out. Aunt Letitia had more to say, but since Roshan had ended the conversation without giving what she said much thought, she couldn’t say more to him and left the stairs as well.

Meanwhile, Anna was hiding in a narrow space between two walls. She remained there until Letitia’s figure vanished from sight, and a small smile curved her lips.

“The Valerian sword is in Euphrasia?”