She Belongs To The Devil

One by one, Theodore, Damien, and Ariel appeared on the premises of the Aberdeen palace along with the people and luggage they were responsible for.

There was a sudden uproar and panic among the palace guards for a while. However, as soon as they recognized who the intruders were, they all felt relaxed and ran to inform their King about the arrival of the guests.

Silvia was the first one to come running to greet the guests. "You all really came!" She sounded surprised but happy at the same time. "Your Highness." She stopped for a second to bow to Theodore and ran straight to hug her cousins.

"I missed you both so much!" She put her arms around the twins' necks and pulled them into a suffocating hug.

"Hey, Silvy!" Ramon let out a muffled groan and patted Silvia's head before pulling away. "We missed you too, munchkin."

"Yeah," Nylah agreed with her brother and apologized. "We wanted to come visit you before we began our trip but since we were Prince Kenneth's guests, we couldn't ask him to change the route."

"No, it's alright. I'm happy that you all came to meet me." Silvia looked at Damien and gave him a wide smile. "Damien, thank you for coming. And Princess Ariel," She went and stood in front of Ariel and held her hands. "It's so good to see you. It's been quite a few years since I last saw you.

You look as beautiful as ever."

"You've grown up to become a beautiful lady too." Ariel pulled Silvia into a warm hug and whispered, "Damien had told me that he met you in the forest. I wish I could see your wolf form too."

Silvia giggled happily. "Then I can show you tonight."

"Really?" Ariel squirmed happily and looked at the Princess who was a few inches shorter than her. "I can't wait to witness it then. Let's take a stroll after dinner."

"Sure, let's do that." Silvia finally turned her head to look at Zach–he was pouting by now–and pretended to be shocked. "Oh! Zach! I didn't see you there."

Zach simply rolled his eyes and walked away while mumbling, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" He suddenly gagged when Silvia grabbed his shirt's collar and pulled him back. "You!"

Everyone laughed seeing Zach struggling like a fish stuck in a hook.

"Aww!" Silvia snickered and held Zach in a chokehold. "Are you mad because I pretended to ignore you, cousin?" She playfully tightened her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry! Forgive me or I'll make you pass out."

Zach tapped Silvia's arm, panicking and struggling. "I forgive… Forgive!"

"Silvia!" King Conall's loud voice resounded from behind. "Is that the right way to treat your cousin who is visiting after so long?"

Silvia quickly freed Zach and straightened her back, her arms behind her back, and apologized. "No, grandfather. I'm sorry."

Zach laughed at Silvia's sudden change in demeanor and took the chance to put Silvia in a loose chokehold. "It's alright, grandfather. We were simply exchanging greetings."

King Conall sighed and shook his head. "Kids these days…" He then stood in front of Theodore–who was bearing an amused expression–and greeted him. "Prince Consort Theodore! Thank you for gracing us with your presence and giving me a chance to host you. I hope you will be staying here for a few days."

"Your Majesty, thank you for having us even though we came here without pre-informing you." Theodore smiled and politely replied, "I wish we could stay for longer, but I'm afraid that we must leave tomorrow. We dropped by to see how you all were doing."

"Oh, that's a shame. But still, I'm grateful you came here with my grandchildren." After sharing some more pleasantries with Theodore, King Conall hugged his grandkids and warmly welcomed Ariel and Damien.

He then ordered the guards to show the guests to their respective guest rooms so that they could get freshened up before gathering for dinner.

Silvia followed her cousins, eager to listen to their wonderful travel stories. Zach was the one who took the initiative to boast about their wonderful journey in an attempt to make Silvia jealous.

Theodore and Damien walked behind them, both happy to see the others so cheerful.

Theodore took this moment to ask a question to Damien. "So, what's your plan from here on? Are you planning to stay in Wyverndale for some time or will you return home?"

Damien looked down as if he was shy. "I wish to stay in Wyverndale until Ariel says otherwise. She has currently forbidden me to leave without her permission."

"Huh… Is that so…" Theodore pressed his lips into a thin line and kept nodding his head, lost in his thoughts. Before entering his assigned room, he finally said, "I will have a guest quarter prepared for you then. You can stay with us for as long as you want."

Damien's eyes lit up upon hearing that. Although Theodore had promised to do so previously, he hadn't believed that the Devil Prince would actually do that for him. "Thank you, Your Highness!" Damien deeply bowed his head, overjoyed by the hospitality he was going to receive.

Theodore waved his hand and said as he walked into his room, "However, make sure to keep your mother updated. Otherwise, she will accuse me of kidnapping her beloved son."

Damien let out a nervous chuckle and agreed. "I will do that."

Everyone went to their respective room to take a bath and change into fresh clothes.

Silvia kept Nylah's company the whole time, listening to Nylah recounting about the trip. Silvia also shared what she had been up to during recent months.

"Right, isn't Uncle Wulfric around? He would have been the first one to greet us and tease us whenever we came to visit." Nylah looked at Silvia while getting help from her personal maid to tie up the corset string.

Silvia popped the last piece of chocolate that she got from Nylah into her mouth and mumbled, "Father went to patrol the nearby town. There was some disturbance in the area. He might be back for dinner."

"Oh, I hope he will be back. We are planning to leave first thing in the morning. So, it would be nice if we got to meet him before leaving."

"Don't worry. Grandfather must have sent someone to inform my father about your arrival." Silvia got up on her feet and stood next to Nylah. "Ugh! I wish I was as tall as you." She pouted while staring back at their reflection in the mirror.

Nylah smiled and patted Silvia's head. "Don't worry, munchkin. You'll grow tall before you even realize it."

Silvia hugged Nylah from the side and beamed. "I like being called munchkin though."

"You'll always be our munchkin." Nylah smiled at her cousin, recalling how small Silvia used to be until just a few months ago. 'She's growing up fast though,' she thought to herself.

"If you're done, let's meet up with the others and head towards the dining hall." Silvia crossed the huge guest room.

"Mm…" Nylah also caught up with her cousin.

As they were walking down the corridor, Ramon and Zach also stepped out of their respective rooms. Silvia curiously looked at Ramon's back and asked Nylah, "Was it only my imagination or did Ramon look sad earlier? Did something happen during the trip?"

Nylah hadn't exposed Ramon and Grace's budding romance to Silvia thinking it wasn't her story to tell. However, since nothing escaped Silvia's observant gaze, Nylah gave her a hint. "He might have been sad to part ways with Kenneth and Grace."

"Grace, huh?" Silvia smirked, connecting the dots in an instant. She then sprinted to catch up with Ramon and gently nudged him with her shoulder. And she teased Ramon, "So, cousin… I heard about Grace."

"Who told you?" Ramon furrowed his brows and gave an accusatory glare to Zach who was walking by their side now.

Zach immediately raised his hands in the air and shook his head. "Hey, I don't know. Don't look at me!"

Nylah giggled from behind. "Ramon, why are you being shy? I thought you were going to talk to Mom and Dad about Grace."

Ramon covered his face with his palms and groaned in embarrassment. "You heard what I said to Kenneth, huh." Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

"Of course, I did." Nylah tapped her ear and added, "Super-hearing, remember?"

"What?" Zach curiously looked at Ramon and Nylah and asked, "What am I missing? What's going on? Don't exclude me from the important details."

Nylah held her twin's arm and teased him further. "Should I tell them or will you do that yourself?"

Ramon pressed his palm on his burning cheek and frowned at Nylah. "Since when did you become this chatty? Last I checked, you were super-shy."

"But it's so fun to tease you." Nylah laughed more upon seeing Ramon's blushing cheeks up close.

They were so loud that Damien and Ariel also came out of their respective rooms to join the fun.

"What's going on here?" Ariel asked Nylah with curiosity.

Zach tugged Ariel's sleeve and complained like a child who was ignored by grown-ups, "Ariel! The twins are hiding something interesting from us."

"What is it? Tell us too." Ariel also began pestering the twins.

Ramon took a deep breath and blurted out in front of everyone, "After returning to Wyverndale, I plan on talking to our parents about Grace. Soon after that, I plan on formally courting her. And if circumstances favor us, we might get engaged and married... Maybe within a year."

Ariel, Zach, and Silvia stood there with their jaws dropped. They weren't expecting Ramon to be so upfront about the matter.

Damien, on the other hand, was happy for his friend and hugged him. "I wish you the very best, Ramon."