She Belongs To The Devil

2"You what?" Theodore raised his brows and asked Damien as if he was surprised by that brave statement from that little demon.      0

And Damien repeated the same sentence again with full confidence, "I plan on staying by her side till eternity, Prince Theodore."     

Theodore squinted his eyes and stared at Damien for a good while.     

Damien got a little worried about what Theodore would say to him next. And he nervously waited to face anything that Theodore would throw at him – insults, questions, fists and kicks, anything.     

Theodore slowly turned his head to take a glance at his daughter. She was hugging Adeline while resting her head on Adeline's shoulder. He turned to look at Damien again.     

And he grabbed Damien's shoulder and teleported to the entrance of the cave.     

They both stood at the edge of the narrow path and faced the beautiful range of green hills.     

Theodore then asked Damien, "Did you also say the same thing to Ariel?"     

"Yes, I did."     

"What did she say?"     

Damien quickly wiped a drop of sweat that trickled down his temple. And he answered, "Ariel has banned me from going back to Hell without getting her permission first. So I will keep on staying by her side."     

Theodore suddenly burst into laughter. "Serves you right. My daughter sure gave you the right punishment." He laughed again and mockingly asked Damien, "Now does that mean I will have to prepare a guest quarter for Ariel's demon pet?"     

Damien was not sure if Theodore understood what he really meant when he said that he wanted to be by Ariel's side forever.     

So he tried to make it clear so that Theodore and Adeline wouldn't think that Kenneth was the only prospective husband for Ariel. "If you would be generous enough to me then I will gladly stay in the guest quarter in your Palace. But I won't be staying there as Ariel's pet or as her friend."     

Damien turned to look at Theodore's face and said, "I will be staying there as her suitor."     

Theodore raised his brows in shock and dramatically turned his head to glare at Damien. "What did you just say?"     

Damien turned his whole body to face Theodore. He gave a respectful bow. And he looked Theodore in the eyes when he said, "I want to court Ariel, and if she agrees, I want to marry her."     

"M-Marry? You want to marry my daughter?" Theodore scoffed in disbelief. His jaw was wide open and his eyes looked as if they were going to pop out.     

Damien puffed his chest a little and tried his best not to get scared of Theodore. "Yes, Prince Theodore. I want to marry your daughter."     

"Wow!" Theodore fisted on his hips and noisily blew out hot air from his mouth. "You do have a lot of courage huh?"     

And he suddenly felt like laughing at himself.     

It had taken Theodore two years to finally muster up the courage to ask Adeline's hand in marriage to the late King Dragomir. And he was so nervous before meeting Adeline's father that he was even stuttering.     

And now, this kid was making him look like a joke by reappearing out of the blue and saying that he wanted to marry Ariel.     

Theodore flicked his fingers on Damien's forehead again and scolded him, "You're too young to be thinking about marriage, you little brat! And Ariel is just nineteen! Who marries at nineteen? Even if she agrees to marry you, I won't allow you two to get married until a few thousand years."     

Damien blinked his eyes twice. He slightly furrowed his brows and then countered Theodore, "But you married Ariel's mother when she was just eighteen."     

"You little…" Theodore bit his lower lip in anger and flicked on Damien's forehead again, this time a little harder than before. And he shouted at that brat, "That was a different time. And Adeline wasn't an immortal back then so I had to hurry."     

"But you two have all the time in the world. There's no need to rush anything." Theodore frowned and looked away from Damien.     

In his eyes, Ariel was still his naïve baby who needed utmost care, support, and protection. And he couldn't even imagine his baby getting married so soon.     

Damien could see that Theodore was worried, and understandably so. He cleared his throat to get Theodore's attention and made a promise, "Prince Theodore, if I do marry her, then it's not like I will take her away from you and you will never get to see her again. I will stay wherever she desires to stay."     

Theodore's expression turned serious all of a sudden. He looked at Damien and asked with all seriousness, "And what if she desires to stay in the Heaven realm? What will you do then?"     

---     

Inside, in the garden, Ariel had calmed down.     

Adeline was also hearing the conversation between Theodore and Damien that took place inside the garden. Thus, she more or less got to know how the three of them ended up here.     

So, instead of asking the same questions to Ariel again, Adeline asked her daughter, "Nothing else happened, right? Did any celestial bother you or try to attack you?"     

Ariel completely forgot about that old woman since she hadn't personally seen her. So she shook her head, "No, no one has come after me yet. And I don't think they will when granny is looking after me."     

Adeline glanced at Kenneth, who was quietly sitting beside Ariel, and then asked him, "Kenneth, you feel fine now, right?"     

Kenneth gave a subtle smile and gave a nod. "Yes, Your Majesty. I feel fine, all thanks to Ariel."     

"My daughter hasn't given you much trouble, has she?" Adeline asked again.     

Kenneth glanced at Ariel and shook his head. "She is a great company to have. And so are the others. I finally know how it feels to have a lot of friends."     

Adeline smiled and said in her soft voice, "I'm glad to hear that."     

Something had been bothering Adeline since a while ago. She hesitated for a while but she asked Kenneth anyway, "And what about Damien? Are you getting along with him as well? Did you two engage in a friendly duel and accidentally hurt each other or… did you two get into a real fight?"