The Demon’s Bride

Elise had finished wearing her dress and tying the side of her hair into small roles which she connected in the back of her head, she placed the pins to secure her hair in place while letting the rest of her hair falling to her waist.

Once she was done, a smile crinkle on her face. She looked to the window, wondering if the carriage had come and if she had to hurry when her eyes narrowed to see a reaper. Taking a better look, Elise was alarmed when she noticed the scythe the reaper was holding was colored in red, the scythe used to take a Demon's life!

In White Mansion, there were three Demons, Ian, Maroon, and Beelzebub. Did it come to take a life?! Just by thinking one of the three people was alarmed put the bell ringing in the back of her mind. Without hesitation, Elise stepped out of her room, she cannot run with the dress and heel she wore and chose to walk fast.

The reaper she saw now was a different reaper than the one she had seen when she was in the carriage. The scythe they held was unlike the one she saw previously. Who did it come from? asked Elise in panic as her feet stepped down the staircase.

Did it come for Ian? the thought was far fetched, but her worries consumed her mind. But worries wouldn't do anything and she had to find Ian to tell him about the reaper. She passed by the hallway and was about to make her way to the lowest floor when she noticed a blood puddle on the corner of the staircase that stopped her feet.

Seeing the blood had her eyes widened and Elise could feel her hands turning cold at the sight. Whose blood was it? Was this the reason for the reaper with a red scythe to come? Not wanting to waste more time to think, Elise quickly left to follow the trail of blood, stopping only when she saw a shadow standing alone. "Ian?" she asked when seeing the bright red eyes that shone in the midst of the dark.

"Don't come close," Ian stopped her from stepping her shoes to the puddle of blood and made his way to her side. "There is blood all over here, you wouldn't want your dress to get dirty with it."

"Whose blood is this?" asked Elise, still thinking of the reaper she saw earlier. She was worried that the blood came from him as the darkness didn't help her to see if whether his shirt was soaked with blood or not.

"It was the intruder's blood. A victim of Blythe came," and Elise raised her brow when she felt his hand settled on the back of her waist to lead her from the hallway. "It appeared that Blythe seduced Demons with her pure act before killing them. And one of the demons she seduced come here to avenge her death to me."

Elise looked at him and a frown creased her forehead, "How does he know you killed Blythe?" That night they were alone, and Elise doubted anyone else saw them with the rest of the people in the village asleep.

"Someone told him. Someone who seemed to know more than we do and they want to push the blame on me," that wasn't the first time anyone wants to pin the blame on him, however, this matter was strange. "I kept him in the dungeon we should know the answer soon." and Elise nodded her head. "What got you here, is it the blood?"

"I saw a reaper with a red scythe from earlier. Mr. Beel told me about the different color of scythe the reapers had and whose soul they took with the scythe," explained Elise and she could feel her heart at rest that the reaper didn't come for Ian.

"So he did. Did he told you anything else?" Ian questioned when they stepped down the staircase. In the middle of the staircase, Elise saw the maid who looked at her for a split second before immediately bowing. For the past two days, she could feel the change of attitude of the people around her. 

"About what?" Elise asked, breaking her gaze from the maid who had made her way out. 

"Like how I punched him?" Ian twisted his lips when Elise blinked her eyes. She did saw the bruise on Beelzebub's face, and although she was curious, she didn't question the man. 

"Why did you do that?" she asked him as he seemed to want her to ask him. "Is Mr. Beel trustworthy?"

"I punched him to teach him a little lesson," Ian said to her first question, "Remember how last time he saved you from the Relic?" she nodded, and instead of a punch shouldn't Ian thanked Mr. Beel? she wondered. "It's actually the thing he did before that. I heard from the Chick that he stole something from you."

"What?" Elise raised her brow, wanting to ask but at the same time, they had arrived near the carriage that had her to pause her question.

Being a gentleman, Ian opened the door, reaching out his hand to help her enter the carriage before following her to get inside. It didn't take long for the carriage to leave the castle. 

"What did he take from me?" asked Elise. She didn't think having anything very valuable that Beelzebub would want to steal, and to her memory, she didn't remember losing anything important. Or did she?

"This," Ian said and Elise followed his movement to his hand that was rummaging through the chest pocket. Pulling it out, Elise saw the silver chain where a small locket glimmered when light reflected on the surface. "Isn't this yours?"

Elise took the necklace to her hand, turning oval locket made from silver, she saw the carving around the frame and recalled this was the same necklace that she and William had bought from the market years ago when she was still young. 

Turning the locket, Elise opened it to see her own name written there. "This is mine," whispered Elise, "I'm sure I kept this home, but after the disaster, I couldn't recover this and left it there." She was sure she had left it in her room, leaving it there. So how did Beel have her necklace? 

Finding something strange, Elise looked to meet Ian's eyes, "How could Mr. Beel have this?" Did he come to Scott's house to take the necklace? But that would mean the man had known her long before he came to the White Mansion...