The Demon’s Bride

After leaving the room which now occupied by Esther, Elise went into a little discussion in her mind. No doubt, she could sense a strong relationship between her and Esther which Ian told her due to scent of families. There were two possibilities she had in mind; the first was that Esther had somehow found a way to mimics her scent to appear like her family member or it was true that Esther was her relative.

Elise had just left the corridor and went to a large space formed by the four intersection of corridors when she saw the maids gathered together in discussion. Curious, Elise came closer, asking, "What happened?"

"Lady Elise," greeted the maids who saw her, some surprised while they bowed to show respect. When Elise moved her gaze to look what the maids were hiding behind their back, a look of nervousness appeared on the maids' faces. 

"What is it?" Elise questioned without sounding too harsh or strict but the maids took it as a reprimand.

"Milady, you would not like to see this," said the maid who was present on the day Tracey was killed by the Lord. Fear that she would inquire Elise's anger that could directly influence the Lord's anger, the maid tried to not tell what happened.

Elise shook her head, "I will be alright. I would like to see," and she saw how the maids discuss with each other by their gazes before the maid who had spoken to her earlier nodded and they made way from the side of the window that they covered. 

Elise came closer, she didn't find anything on the window that was worth fretting for but when she looked down, her eyes widened in view of a crow collapse on the ground, the crow's black wings spread wide as and it's head twist to the right side as if it was dying. 

"Oh no," Elise whispered and she came closer to the crow when the maid who had spoke earlier looked alarmed.

"Milady, would you like us to help you with it? Dead birds are said to be a carrier of many illness," said the maid with worry.

"I should be fine," Elise dismissed the maid's worry. Bringing her hand, she begin to examine the heartbeat of the bird, finding the pulse to be normal and healthy that had her wonder what the bird was doing on the floor. Was it feeling cold and stay here? But with the snow outside the castle that hadn't thaw, she doubted that was the case. 

"Maybe it's a dehydration," came Ian's voice beside her and Elise turned her face to look at him also finding the maids scattering away on the Lord's presence. 

"Dehydration?" Elise questioned and she took the bird's body, "It isn't dead yet, do you might now what we should do?"

Over her question, she saw how Ian didn't speak and instead continue to stare at the bird. The crow who was under the brooding red gaze, couldn't help but gulp faintly and Ian who noticed the heartbeat of the bird hitch for a moment grinned, "Hm, we should cremate him now. We might be too late, sometimes dehydration in creatures like bird have stages and from what I see it is threading between life and death, there is nothing we can do unless it begin to cough-" and Ian raised his brows when the crow suddenly coughed. "Oh, how lucky," deadpanned Ian without voicing out the oddness of timing the bird had as it coughed right as soon as he stood it needed to cough. "But it's still sleeping, bring the crow in a cage."

"A cage?" Elise questioned, "I didn't know we have a cage."

"There was one stupid guest who came to take my crow in a cage, I took his cage in exchange," Ian tutted, taking the bird by the back of its body, his eyes then continue to stare at the shape of the bird who continue to act as if it was dead. "Poor acting," Ian whispered for the crow's red eyes to faintly begin to open with shock.

Elise didn't heard the remark Ian left over the crow and she asked, "Did you only took the cage?"

"Of course I didn't, I took his hands too," and when he looked at her eyes, Ian shrugged his shoulders, "It's in the past and the cage is quite old but it should do some work in keeping this one a hostage." 

The red-eyed crow who couldn't bear to be kept on the cage like some kind of an animal quickly shook its wings and at once flew away from Ian's hand. Ian let the bird to escape even though he could catch it. Elise was startled by the bird's sudden movement and she watched how it tried to shake away and leave only to bump on a window and flew dizzily while trying to find its way out.

"What a clumsy bird," Ian remarked, sensing Elise's gaze on him.

"What was that?" Elise questioned because she could tell it wasn't a normal exchange between people who had just saved a crow.

"A spy someone had sent us but they are harmless. Look at how it's wounded while trying to get inside? He won't be able to get inside again. It's troubling how they think my castle is a hotel they could come and rest at," Ian clicked his tongue before then turning his eyes at Elise, "So how did it goes with Esther?"

"It was alright. I was thinking if it's possible that Esther might not be my younger sister but someone from my father's family?" From what she had known now, her father, Mr. Levi is a Demon and if Esther have the same scent of her family, she might also be a descendant of her lineage.

"Possibly, which why we kept her here. I thought Beel came with you?" Ian questioned because he found the blonde-haired Demon suddenly missing. Elise turned her face, also finding that Beelzebub didn't come out.

"Say, is it possible for Mr. Beel to take fancy of Esther?" Because from what Elise could see, it appears that Beelzebub was enamored in getting Esther's attention which she couldn't tell if it was for the mission Ian gave him or if he had acted on his feeling.

"The curse that Beelzebub have, do you know what is it? It's for them to never receive their fullest wish, causing him to be the most greediest Demon in Hell. Beelzebub is also one of the few admins who are incapable of being in love because of their massive expectation on love and the people they love. So I would say, it's almost impossible for Beel to love someone," Ian explained and taking her hand, he brought her away from the room, making way toward the staircase and they left toward his study room.

"But it's not entirely impossible," Elise said for her to find his grin raising. 

"It all goes back to the Demons themselves individually. There are Demons who was more affected to their curse and there are some who have it tamer and milder in effect. Similar to how the scale of greediness of Beelzebub differ in each generation," Ian continued to explain as they entered his study room.

"But Mr. Beel seemed to have it the curse affecting him less," said Elise. After spending time with Beelzebub, she could tell that the Demon was rather outgoing. If it wasn't for Lucifer's contract with him, she could see how he would be more cheerful and filled with zeal than now. 

But Ian chuckled, "Does it look that way in you? That Beel have it worse than all the previous generation. In the past he was worse, I don't know what cause him to become tamer now."

Elise wondered how strike different the past Mr. Beel and himself now. With the Demon, she couldn't sense any feeling of greediness as Ian had told her. A sudden thought passed by her mind which she can't help but ask, "Can it be that Mr. Beel had successfully break his curse?" If so, then the curse that bind Ian, was there also a solution to break it?