She Belongs To The Devil

"Damien…" Ariel raised her hands in front of her chest and spoke slowly, "He is my cousin. He is allowed to be here."

She was hoping Damien would understand that she didn't want him to get angry without her having to outrightly say so. She did not want Damien to behave rudely towards Tobias when she had just managed to calm her father's rage.

To her relief, Damien read the room and despite being mad at Tobias for severely hurting Ariel, he kept his mouth shut. However, he didn't stop giving Tobias a cold glare.

Tobias, on the other hand, got up from his seat and gave a subtle bow to Damien even when the latter was a demon. "I apologize for all the trouble me and my father caused that night. I am well aware my father doesn't deserve an apology after endangering everyone's life, and neither do I. I am ashamed of my actions and my cowardice. But I do hope that you don't think of me as an enemy.

I am not like my father and I pray I will never be."

Damien was slightly taken aback when the new Chief Prince of Heaven bowed to him and even offered an olive branch. He didn't say a word back to Tobias, but because of Tobias' gentle demeanor, his dislike towards Tobias lessened a little.

'I guess not everyone from Heaven is full of ego,' he thought.

Before the room fell into awkward silence, Ariel looked at Tobias and asked, "Umm… You said that you wanted to meet everyone who still has the memory of that night, right? Shall I ask everyone to come here?"

Tobias let out a deep breath as if he had been holding it for a while now. He shifted from one leg to another while holding a puzzled look on his face.

It had taken a lot of courage and a couple of days for him to come down to Earth because he was too ashamed of himself.

The little bit of courage that he had mustered up to give a formal apology to everyone involved had already faltered when Theodore had shouted in front of his face. And when Damien also shouted at him, he wasn't sure if he could face any more people today.

Ariel seemed to understand what Tobias was thinking. So, she waved her hand and politely said, "You know what… I will pass on your apology to everyone. You don't have to meet all of them. Besides, they're not even angry at you. I've already clarified to everyone that you were being threatened into doing your father's bidding. So, they've already forgiven you."

Tobias smiled, knowing that his cousin was saying that just to comfort him.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and replied, "I've come all the way here. I think I should complete the task I came here for even though I am a little scared to face them."

Theodore suddenly chuckled from behind. "Come on, kid. They won't eat you alive." He paused for a second before sarcastically saying, "A few of them might bite though."

"Dad! You're not helping!" Ariel shook her head at her father and asked Tobias once again, "Are you sure you want to meet them all?"

"Yes."

---

Miriam served warm tea to everyone present inside Ariel's room. Although she didn't recognize the man who was sitting by Ariel's side, she kept her head down and excused herself from the room.

The moment the door was closed, everyone's eyes automatically went back towards Tobias.

Joyce lightly touched her pendant and questioned Ariel, her eyes still on Tobias, "So, is he going to say something or did he just come here to have tea?"

Vlad gave out an awkward laugh and gently placed his hand on Joyce's thigh. "Joy, he is Ariel's cousin, just like you. Be a little kind, dear."

"You want me to be kind to him?" Joy suddenly rose to her feet and shouted while pointing her finger at Tobias, "He almost killed Ariel!"

Her eyes filled with tears and her voice cracked as she further shouted, "You have no idea how terrible she looked! She had a hole the size of a fist in her stomach, a pool of blood under her body, and no trace of color on her face. I was terrified thinking I wouldn't be able to heal her in time. Damien and Kenneth also almost lost their lives because of his father. And you want me to be kind to him?"

Theodore suddenly felt his blood boiling when Joyce painted a mental picture of Ariel's condition.

He had looked into Ariel's memory, which showed images from her viewpoint. It didn't clearly show him how badly his daughter was hurt. So, hearing such details from Joyce made him furious all over again. It also didn't help when he recalled how he was in a similar situation before–Adeline lying in his arms, dying.

An inferno rose inside him. The Devil Prince wanted to tear apart the barriers between all the realms, drag Michael down to hell, and toss him into hellfire after repeatedly beating him to a pulp.

"I need some fresh air." Theodore rose from his chair and vanished into thin air before anyone could say anything.

Ariel sighed and leaned back on her chair. She looked at Joyce and said as calmly as she could, "Joy, you know I willingly took the hit from Tobias to get Michael off our backs. Tobias also gave me the healing pill. I couldn't use it because Michael didn't leave immediately. And Tobias was hurting more than me when he impaled me."

Vlad held his wife's hand and softly said, "Yes, Joyce, he didn't do it willingly. Don't get so mad at him."

Joyce was still not ready to tone down her anger towards Tobias. "He still could have taken a stand against his father. He knew his father was wicked. Why didn't he report his father's schemes to God? I'm sure he would have listened and punished Michael before he tried to annihilate us all."

This time, Tobias stood up and said while lowering his head, "I know I acted like a coward. I couldn't protect Ariel that night. But with the authority I have now, I promise to protect her from now on. I won't let my father or any other heavenly beings hurt her again."