The Cursed Prince

Raphael smiled at her and stepped closer to Harlow. He revealed a tray filled with breakfast and offered it up to the princess. 

"Why don't we eat first? Or at least, let you eat first. I didn't expect that you would pass out with just me touching you. It's not often that a woman faints in my presence."

"Are you sure?" Harlow raised a brow. She remembered the lovesick elven princess and assumed that the elf would have passed out from seeing Raphael.

However, before she refuted his words, the Draecian princess realized she was being chatty and proceeded to clamp her lips shut.

Raphael raised a brow but said nothing. The breakfast that he unveiled in front of Harlow turned out to not only be her favorite roasted rabbit but also had every little dessert and dish that she liked and savored.

Harlow didn't touch the food at once and only looked up at Raphael in alarm. She realized that she left Icecube in the stables. "Icecube. My ice dragon would be starving by now if I was gone all night."

"On the contrary, dearest wife… he's actually free right now." Raphael smiled. "Naturally, I came to retrieve your trusted dragon steed. It's good for a dragon to stretch his wings and fly whenever he has a chance instead of being cooped in a stable."

Fly? At Raphael's words, Harlow heard a loud roar and she quickly looked outside her window. It was at that exact moment that Icecube swept forward from the clouds and flew happily across the skies.

Harlow couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Icecube looking the happiest he had ever been. It was as if he was at home here in the underworld and enjoyed being given free reign in how he flew and needing not to listen to any directions.

"I raised him until he was ten and then sent him on your birthday." Raphael looked at the ice dragon with a small smile. "He's grown quite large, hasn't he? I can see that you've taken care of him quite well. I am so happy to see you cherish the gifts I gave you."

Harlow was pleased at the compliment but refused to say anything else at first. Until she suddenly realized that this was her chance to ask him about the oath Raphael made with her mother.

"I don't have time to chit-chat with you, Raphael. I'm here to break off… I mean, ask to break off the promise of my mother to give you her most valuable possession." Harlow said. "My mother did not realize that you were pertaining to her firstborn and thus agreed, but she was simply mistaken."

The princess would have been a lot more confrontational but her conversation with Julian opened her up a little. She wanted to be more mature and have a proper conversation with the man before her.

Raphael shook his head. "On the contrary, if your mother pried a little more and clarified the situation, she may have figured out that I wanted you. However, the oath has already been made. Unless you can turn back time to eighteen years ago, there is no canceling a promise that is bound by magic."

Harlow narrowed her eyes at him and she clenched her fist. Diplomacy didn't work, huh?!

Raphael chuckled at the princess' action and offered up the tray of her favorite meal. "Princess, if you have any intentions of beating me up… I recommend that you eat breakfast first. It would give you the energy for the job."

Harlow's face fell and then she suddenly pouted. Her original plan with escaping the witch and demon didn't work and Raphael also figured out her plans? This wasn't fun anymore. She pursed her lips when she realized he actually had a point.

"Fine, let me eat before I beat you into a pulp," Harlow muttered underneath her breath and grabbed for the tray of breakfast. 

However, before Harlow could grab the food, Raphael lifted it above her head and gave the princess a look. "Are you not going to check if I poisoned the food? It seems like you've taken after your mother in this regard."

Harlow flushed in anger and said. "Well… I don't expect someone who claims me to be his wife to just suddenly decide to poison my food. At worst… at worst, you could have aphrodisiacs!"

"Dang! I should have thought about aphrodisiacs!" Raphael raised a brow and chuckled.

Harlow rolled her eyes at his carefree response. "Don't you dare!"

Raphael raised a brow and said,  "Let's find out shall we?"

"What do you mean 'find out'?" Harlow looked at him. "I'm not going to eat that anymore."

Raphael chuckled and plopped down beside the princess' bed. He grabbed for the spoon and gave her a smile. "I'll be your taste tester, princess. I'll make sure that the food is not poisoned or laced with any nasty drug."

Harlow couldn't argue with that idea at all. She pursed her lips and watched the man scoop up some of the roasted rabbits and ate some of it with a look of relish on his face and soon sampled the other dishes.

Seeing the Demon King happily savoring the food made her stomach growl loudly, but instead of becoming embarrassed, Harlow kept her poker face on and pretended that nothing happened.

"Are you hungry?" Raphael teased and offered her a spoon filled with rabbit meat. Harlow shook her head and looked away from him.

"No. I'm not going to eat anything until I've made sure that nothing is weird with the food. Who knows what you could have put in it? I'm not going to take any chances." Harlow frowned at him but was still respectful.

"Suit yourself then." Raphael nodded. "It will take some time before we can ascertain that the food does not do anything. Some poisons take a couple of minutes before starting to take effect or others take even longer."

"I'm willing to wait.." Harlow smiled tightly at him.