She Belongs To The Devil

1"Irene? What… Why are you so breathless?" Michael abruptly got up from his throne when Irene appeared in front of him out of the blue.      2

He went and stood in front of his sister. She was panicking for some reason. And he wondered if Ariel had done something to her that scared Irene out of her wits.     

"Irene?"     

Irene took a deep breath in and swallowed to ease her burning throat.     

When Ariel teleported away from the farmhouse, Irene felt some tension between the boys. And naturally, she wanted the boys to bond and maintain peace with one another.     

And when the boys started to bond and laugh over some silly topics, she was so drowned in their lovely sound of laughter and giggles that she forgot to put up her guard. To be fair, she hadn't expected those two boys to notice her and she hadn't even thought in her wildest imagination that they would end up chasing her aggressively.     

And as it was something unexpected for her, she didn't know how to react.     

So, instead of waiting for them to catch up to her so that she could explain who she was, Irene ran away from there and came to the place that first popped up in her mind.     

"Irene?" Michael gently grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. "What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?" He looked up and down at Irene while asking, "You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?"     

"Hurt? Why would I be hurt? What made you think that way?" Irene was surprised to see how worried Michael looked. But she liked that her brother was actually worried for her. So she smiled slightly and asked further, "I didn't know that my brother would still be concerned for my safety, even when he knows that I am not that tiny, clumsy kid anymore."     

Michael frowned a little and scoffed a reply, "You were panting. And you also looked a bit scared. How can I not worry about you when you suddenly appear in front of me in such a pitiful condition?"     

"I was simply…" Irene tried to explain why she was doing so.     

But when she thought back to how she panicked and ran away from the Earth realm, she couldn't help but giggle at herself.     

"And now you're laughing..." Michael fisted on his hips and gave a questioning glance to Irene. "Tell me what happened already, will you?"      

"Okay, Your Highness," Irene said in a mocking tone as Michael was starting to sound a little too restless than usual. She went and took a seat that was near the throne. And she asked her brother, "Why don't we… speak in private? I have a lot of things to share with you."     

Michael didn't waste any time when she said that.     

He instantly pulled Irene's consciousness into his sacred place. Both of them opened their eyes to find themselves on that same beach, the representation of Michael's consciousness. The sky looked a little gloomy at the moment.     

Irene was too absorbed in her thoughts to notice the change in her surroundings. She immediately made her brother aware that she wasn't attacked by anyone.     

"I was panting because some boys noticed me and started walking towards me. And in my panic, I forgot that I was disguising myself as an old lady. I ended up panicking when they started to follow me. And I ran from there. That's all."     

Michael kept on staring at Irene while raising his brows. To be honest, he was a little disappointed by Irene's answer since he wanted to hear something about Ariel and not some random boys.     

He sighed and then finally asked his sister in a little harsher tone, "So, does that mean you didn't meet our niece for all these days? Or did you get a chance to meet her and talk to her?"     

Irene was somewhat taken aback when her brother's body language and his voice changed all of a sudden. But she didn't think much of it.     

She then answered her brother with all seriousness, "I wanted to meet Ariel. But I didn't get the chance to do so."     

"Huh?" Michael was now angered by Irene. The frown lines between his brows deepened.     

And he asked rudely, "So what were you doing down on Earth if you didn't even do one simple task? How hard is it to meet someone and talk to someone? You know... I was really looking forward to introducing myself to Ariel soon after you did. And hopefully, having a meeting with Theodore. But it looks like you aren't even interested to mend the broken ties. You don't even want to put in any effort!"     

Irene looked as calm as ever even when Michael was lashing out his anger at her. She looked him straight in the eyes and mumbled, "There's the brother I know." She smiled and further added, "I thought you had changed in these past decades when you were suddenly calm and caring. But it looks like you haven't."     

Michael glared at Irene and asked in that same angered voice, "How can I stay calm when you are ruining my plans?"     

Michael was actually talking about his plan to test Ariel's true strength. But Irene assumed that he was simply talking about the same 'mending the broken ties' plan.     

So she calmly defended herself. "I am not trying to deliberately ruin your plans. Had you calmly listened to me first, you would already know the reason why."     

Michael raised his brows and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He kept on waiting for Irene to speak more.     

But she turned away and stared at the horizon instead.     

Michael let out a shaky breath in frustration. But he also couldn't afford to anger Irene. She would either give him the silent treatment as she was doing right now or worse, she would disappear for another few decades.     

So he took a minute to calm the raging anger inside of him and finally, asked in a soft voice, "Okay. I am calm now. Tell me. Why?"     

Irene softly smiled to herself and turned to look at her brother. She then answered Michael, "I couldn't meet Ariel because, for some reason, our mother put up a barrier around her. It was there the whole time I was near her. I don't know why our mother didn't want me to meet Ariel, but I didn't want to force my way in."     

Irene had expected her brother to be a little surprised if not shocked. However, when she saw no change in his expression whatsoever, she was surprised instead.     

"You already knew about the barrier?" she creased her brows and asked Michael feeling a little betrayed.     

Michael sighed and revealed a half-truth so as to regain her trust. "I had heard that Ariel was raised inside a barrier for all these years. But I had never expected our mother to be involved. And I certainly didn't expect Ariel to still be inside a barrier even when she stepped out of that prison-like Palace of Wyverndale."     

"Wait, wait, wait…" Irene's mouth was wide open after hearing that from Michael. "She was raised inside a barrier? Why?"     

"I don't know… I never understood why our mother and brother treated Ariel like some prisoner." Michael covered his face and pretended that he was deeply troubled by that fact.     

And he tried to provoke Irene by making her believe that Ariel was kept inside the barrier against her wish. "That poor child deserves to live as freely as she wants."     

He made himself sound as empathetic as possible and kept on spewing out the nonsense. "Why is she under constant surveillance? Isn't being born as our parent's granddaughter enough of a burden for her that they are trying to take away her leftover freedom as well? They are doing injustice to her."     

"Oh heavenly lights!" Irene took a deep breath and fisted over her mouth. She felt pity for Ariel. She even felt like swooping down to Earth again and rescuing Ariel from the claws of the Goddess and Theodore.     

But she didn't know if she could break inside that barrier. She never tried to do so earlier. So instead of going down to Earth, she thought that it would be better if she went and visited her mother instead.     

And she said with determination in her eyes, "Let me give a quick visit to our mother. I want to know why she is treating a child like some caged bird."