As Damian left, Belle brought Lady Edith away to her room. On the staircase, Lady Edith let out a long hum. “That is your little brother?”“Yes, do you know him?” Belle questioned. It doesn’t look like it was their first time meeting each other. Nothing how easily Damian had accepted her to be Lady Edith. After what happened, Damian had always been on edge, being careful on all their acquaintance but he had only looked once at Lady Edith before letting her into the house. “The coven isn’t that wide and spread out. Every rumors travel even faster than wind some times. Of course, I know about your brother. How much of a genius he is that is.”“Genius?” Belle looked at the woman. She knew indeed her little brother was an intelligent young man who is always composed and know what to do.But she was certain this genius wasn’t something academically.“Yes. He is a well known witcher in our coven. A boy who is very cool headed, handsome, and…”“And?” Belle urged. She frowned as she thought
When Belle looked around she was surprised by how her surrounding was bright. Candles were lit all around her and what was more shocking was to find herself not in Rachel room but instead standing in the dining room. There when she turned herself her blue eyes widened in horror finding another blue eyes looking back at her. The features, the smile, the person sitting next to her was none other than herself!“Can’t you live here for a week after the wedding?” her own self talked. Belle looked at her own face, slowly placing her finger over her self to make sure they couldn’t look at her. Even though she had waved her palms, it appeared that no one in the dining room was able to look at her. It’s as thought she had entered a space that belonged only to herself.“Yes, it’s too sudden if you move to his house,” said Damian who looked worried and lonely like Belle. Belle felt that somewhere this had happened before, as though this entire scene in front of her was being replayed. She th
Rachel’s dagger-like gaze looked at the person standing in front of her, looking extremely unhappy how the man had intrude her happiness. She looked at him forward, taking slow steps toward him which Belle followed. She flinched when she saw the man whom her sister had talked to held bright red eyes while looking at her. It’s a demon! Belle thought to herself, her knuckles balling into a fist.Belle moved more forward over her sister, trying to get a better view of the man’s face. Just as she was close enough to enter the balcony, her forehead hit the invisible wall which she didn’t know when it had appeared.She raised her hand, knocking the space in front of her to force her way out to no avail. The invisible wall couldn’t be removed and thus it was difficult for her to look at the man’s face.Belle pursed her lips tightly angrily giving the invisible wall one last punch before hearing her sister talked again, “You don’t have to come, I know what I have to do. You must have came fo
Belle was horrified at her sister’s relax expression, she didn’t seemed like she minded to kill— as though she was familiar with blood and the consequences of it. She watched her sister who retreated to her room while the man disappeared to the night.Her sister went through the wardrobe, pulling candles, charcoals and the familiar gold glint that looked like nightmare to Belle. She knows what it was, understanding that the gold glint came from the dagger that was found after her sister’s death. Belle walked closer, watching Rachel drawing the foreign letters on the wooden floors. All those letters were the same one as she had read in the books that Lady Edith gave to her. Looking over the letters, the circle gradually become bigger, making it look grimly. The black writings mixed to the wooden wall, as though it was etched. Belle felt as though the person in front of her was someone she didn’t know, someone she had just first met. She maintained her distance between her and Rachel
Belle felt her breaths stifled as she heard her sister’s faint sigh. Her hand pressing her fingernail to the wooden floor as though to run away. To protect herself, she quickly raised her hand whispering a magic only for the person in front of her to whisper a spell against her, causing her hand to burn. Rachel recoiled from the pain, causing her fingers to turn black as she pulled it to her chest.“It won’t work,” the person said.“Why?” Demanded Rachel. She looked at her hands, shocked and confused as her skin grew paler, “My magic—”“It’s a holy magic,” the person responded, taking their footsteps closer to the magic circle as the black shoes smeared the charcoal on the floor. “It works to abolish all dark magic, rendering it useless for life.”“I didn’t use any dark magic,” Rachel coughed up blood, noticing how her own vision had turned blurry as though a droplet of water had fallen on her clear eyes.“You did. As you called up a demon, that’s when your magic turn dark. I guess, y
Leon saw as Belle fell after Lady Edith finished her magic spell. He quickly rushed to her side taking her away from the witch. His red eyes glowered as he looked down on her, “You know how this forbidden magic will hurt her soul. Unlike you she is pure.”Edith stared at the demon, surprised by how he showed such an expressive concern over Belle where his anger could be seen flowing from the veins on his forehead. He narrowed his eyes, looking at the witch and demanded, “You’re not here to protect her, aren’t you?”Edith didn’t dare to say a word, knowing the demon would try to kill her if she was to give an answer that wouldn’t agree the demon’s thought.But Leon had made up his mind. He would kill anyone, anything, who dared to try and harm his Belle. Edith took a sharp breath when she felt something coils around her legs. It was fingers of the dead souls holding down to her ankle as if trying to pull her down to the floor. She couldn’t move, knowing that would be her last move
Belle looked at her surrounding, still feeling surreal that she had travel to the memory of the past. When she recalled what she saw, she could feel her heart falling to the depth of her stomach and her blood ran cold.“How long have I’ve been asleep?” Belle questioned, looking at Leon whose eyes stared at her in concern.“Eight hours,” he answered without looking at the time as though he had been counting each seconds, awaiting for her to wake up. “If you still sleep for another two hours, I would have called my brother to check on you.”Belle chuckled, placing her hand on her forehead when she winced from a pain, “I guess I am weak physically and mentally.”“No,” Leon responded to her words at once. “You’re not weak. Physically, humans are weaker but witches are also as fragile as them, sometimes they are even more weaker. And mentally—”Belle who had been listening closely to his words stared at him, awaiting for the rest of his words as he said, “—If you are mentally weak, you wou
Belle’s eyes turned wide open, “That would mean we can find out the person who possessed him?”Leon nodded his head, “If a demon was to possess a human, their eyes turns red. Only those of highest blood like me could change their eye color but in Hell, that wouldn’t work.”“But his eyes were purple,” Belle noted.“It means a witch had possessed him,” Leon concluded for her. “It would be difficult to catch the perpetrator if it was a soul that had possessed him. I would have to kill your brother.”Belle’s face turn pallid hearing his words which he quickly soothed by brushing the outline of her cheeks.“Even if it was the case, I would find a way to not harm your brother. I know how much you love your family and how much they matter to you. I wouldn’t hurt the people you love darling.”Belle felt relieved and moved hearing Leon’s words. Knowing how he had been, he would have killed Damian as it was the easiest solution for him. As a demon, he would prioritize himself but for her, he ha
As she settled her hand on Gorgolta’s hands, the man instructed, “Imagine the face of the person. You’re doing great.” Belle’s closed eyes moved slowly as she avoided the bad memory and sight of her bloody sister, only focusing on the man’s face that stood behind Damian. She tried to make it clear but alas, his eyes were blackened in her memory. But even though she couldn’t see the man’s eyes, she was certain she had seen every part of the man’s face, starting from his hair down to his neck. Leon looked at the drawing that Gorgolta had sketched instantly. The charcoal shades left dusts over the parchment but the drawing that started from a line slowly formed a face of a person. Meanwhile, back at her home in that afternoon, Damian who woke up felt a sudden itch from his wound that was given by the strange old woman he had seen two days ago. He felt his throat parched and pushed himself from his coach only to feel dizziness hitting his head and his bod losing balance to the poi
Belle followed right behind Leon, finding the two elderly men had quickly jump on their feet and looked behind as if trying to find another way to escape. Leon sighed, bringing the boy in front of him that stopped the two men at once.“Wait! Wait! Don’t harm him!” Shouted the first man whose hair had turned all gray. While the man beside him who looked less older also stopped and raised his hand to show he won’t escape again.“We can talk about this. Release that child,” said the second man.“When did I say I would harm this little one?” Leon scoffed. “Which one of you is Gorgolta?”A faint sigh could be heard from the second man’s mouth as he stepped forward, raising his hand, “That would be me. If you’re business if with me—”“He won’t harm this boy,” Belle cut in. Gathering the two’s attention that looked surprised seeing her face, more startled when he saw her eyes were blue instead of red. She noticed this and offered them a smile to break the tension in the room. “We only wish
“We should go now,” said Leon, offering his hand for her to touch.“I do know his face but I can’t describe it for you well enough,” Belle started, looking at him who was smiling, “Do you have an idea?”“Of course I do,” Leon closed his eyes which she followed before feeling a pull that shake her body that happened in a second. As she opened her eyes again the next second, she found herself in a different space. They were standing in front of a pub where men and women gathered but with most of them ignoring their presence, as though Leon’s presence matter so less to their eyes.“Where are we?” She asked, looking around again at the place they had stood at.“The slum of Hell, where only those who are born from the lowest type of demons come,” he pulled her hand, holding her tight. “In here they would sell anything, even the people they just met in exchange for their livelihood. Don’t stray away from me.”Belle noticed the eyes that watched her after a while. It wasn’t that they hadn’t
Helios frowned, trying to remember Belle’s face but couldn’t as he didn’t put much thought in remembering the person whom he was set to kill. As there would be no use in remembering the person’s face and name when they would die in the next second. “I don’t remember,” brushed Helios aside, thinking that there was no use in remembering the woman's face again. “I thought Leon would become more obedient now, seeing how he had kept quiet for the few decades. But I could see now how he’s slowly rebelling like what he did in the past. He never learned from his mistakes.”Rachel crooked her eyebrows, folding her hand underneath her bust, “So you’re saying that he brought a witch, is that correct? Can it be the soul of the witch whom you asked for him to bring?”Helios scoffed, as if refusing her words, “He should be done with it by now. I asked him and he told me the soul is already in his possession. If that’s true, the witch must’ve been long dead by now. If everything went to the plan th
Belle stayed beside Leon until morning, carefully watching his wound and making sure he was at the most comfort. She found out that truly there was no medicine from the side effect he suffered due to breaking the contract.By morning, the blackness that appeared on his arm had disappeared which took around eight to ten hours.“It’s better now, you don’t have to look at it that way,” Leon chuckled seeing how her blue eyes carefully studying his arm.“Is this really the only side effect?” Belle asked him only to see him smile.“My brother could have killed me but I guess he thought it would be a shame since I haven’t finished what he told me to do,” Leon moved his finger, frowning a little that made her worried.Deep down she had the urge to question what Helios had ordered him to do but couldn’t knowing how it would only trigger the same wound to appear again on him. She didn’t want him to suffer from the pain or to have being at unease as he didn’t want to lie to her.“Don’t worry ho
Leon looked at her face, noticing the pain that hurt his heart. He quickly shook his head, holding both her hand gently as a way to reassure her.“No. I do not have a lover,” he responded firmly. “In the past there was indeed someone who I fall in love for. But it was only an attraction.”“But the masked man told me,” she whispered. “It’s a doll,” Leon answered to her. “They don’t know feelings or emotions but perhaps to their mind they associate friendship as lover.”Belle trusted him and nodded but she wondered how the doll didn’t have feelings or emotions as she saw it by her eyes how the doll would risk itself to protect her.“And who is that person?” She carefully questioned, “The one who you fell for.”Feeling Leon’s red eyes studying her, she quickly waved her hand, “It’s not what you’re thinking. I know that it’s been a long time and I’m not asking because I want to put you to the corner. I was just curious.”“I know,” Leon chuckled. He rested his head on the head rest which
Belle was shocked seeing how Helios pulled out his sword, ready to cut down the servant who had used his life as a shield to protect her. Not wanting him to get attacked, she closed her eyes, wrecking her mind to remember the magic spells she had seen from the books she read. She then remembered one magic and squeezed out a whisper that was difficult for her to say, “A Le’el.”Helios was unprepared for the bright light that suddenly appeared from the woman whom he thought was a human. He didn’t have enough time to close his eyes and grunt as he suffered from a bright light that stab his red eyes sharply. Although he couldn’t see, Helios turn angered. The woman whose face he didn’t see well had harmed him. “You’re a witch,” he said, and Belle could hear bell tolling in the back of her mind. She could feel more rage radiating off his words after finding out she’s a witch.Just before Helios would attack Belle, Leon appeared in front of him. His hand quickly placed itself on his elde
The stuffiness that she felt made her tongue tied. Belle fiddled with her hands while the masked man’s gestures turn flustered as he couldn’t comfort nor take back the words he had wrote. He knew the only reason why Leon had brought Belle here was because they had fallen in love for each other. To Leon his castle was similar to his heart. Only a few people could be let to enter his castle and not even his brothers were let invited.And that explain everything of Belle’s presence in the castle.Worried, the masked man wrote quickly, “But lady, that is what happened in the past. By past I mean, hundred of years ago. Lord Leon now looks back at it as simply a past memory.”Maybe, thought Belle silently. But it could be true that Leon’s love stays for centuries that he couldn’t forget his past lover. Belle quickly shook her head, reminding herself that this was only her thoughts and nothing has been confirmed. She needed to talk with Leon and made sure the fact before falling into the r
Looking inside the room it was indeed snow that had turned the room icy and white. Belle reached out her hand as she was hesitant to step in. Feelings the snowdrops on her fingers which disappeared on her touch, she made certain that it was a real snow.“How could there be snow?” Belle whispered her question aloud, finding the masked man quickly pulling the glass quill and the pile of parchment. This time instead of talking he had drawn an easier figure of a book and a human. On the human’s hand was a magic wand.“Magic?” She questioned. “So… Leon could do things like these as well…”The masked man shook his head and wrote, “Not the lord, but a close friend of his.”Belle stepped into the room that was small in size, as though it was built simply to showcase the snowflakes that drops from the ceiling of the room. There she found the crown that was hidden inside a glass case.“But why the snow?” Belle questioned, seeing the masked man’s parchment paper turn slightly wet as the snowdrop