The Demon’s Bride

Vella saw Nancy storming off and turned her face to Elise. Elise looked up at her staring and asked, "What is it, Vella?"

"I've never seen someone so brave to go against a mythical being in a state of aggression." She spoke with her stale tone that it almost sounded as though she was being sarcastic but perhaps she was really being sarcastic to Elise at the moment. Vella paused and added with a sigh. "Next time, you shouldn't go against them. That one just now you were lucky but I doubt you would be next time."

"I would stand down if it isn't my matter, however, you're my friend now, Vella. It's a problem to me if I back down to see you harmed." Elise replied with a smile. Though it was true that some of mythical beings are frightening like the ones who attacked her town, she knew far better than there are mythical being who still could be reasoned with. But next time, she sure have to rethink her move or else she wouldn't leave unscathed.

Vella stood there watching her for a moment. Sure enough Elise was a smart girl and after hearing "ex-convict" she doubted the girl would still want to befriend her but she didn't place her focus there. She was just a girl with a warm soul. Vella chuckled faintly, her usual face that was coated with coldness and cynical gaze now turned to a heartfelt smile. "I never thought I will get to hear that again." She whispered and walked away from the hallway.

"In any case, I didn't know that you remember the laws of the Church." Vella spoke.

"Yes, it's a dream for me to work in the Church." Being a studious girl with a dream achieving to pass the test to work in the Church, for her remembering the rules of the Church is something that she have to remember by heart. Thus she didn't think it was much of a praiseworthy act but Vella had a disbelief expression.

"If I'm not wrong, the laws of the Church is about two thousand, right? You remembered all of them?"

"Yes." Elise nodded in confirmation.

"Haha," Vella suddenly burst to a chuckle, she patted Elise's shoulder and shook her head. "But thanks to that we could see Nancy's irritated face. Thank you, Elise for helping me. But next time you don't have to, as you know Nancy isn't the only mythical beast here. I am too a mythical being." Vella spoke. Her cynical and cold expression seemed to ease after the scene.

"That-" Elise paused thinking whether it would sound rude and asked. "May I ask what kind of mythical beings are you?" Carmen is a vampire and there are less mythical beings that could take human's appearance. For times, she saw Vella a little different than any mythical beings she knows.

"You'll know soon enough." Vella replied ambiguously.

They hadn't paid well attention enough to their surrounding as they walked down the hallway. Without knowing when he arrived, the butler Maroon had stood at the end of the hallway. His dull eyes peering the two, more specifically to Elise who was standing beside, Vella. To this point, after meeting Maroon for several times, Elise could only ask herself, perhaps she had done something wrong to receive such a hard to describe cold gaze from him? Her opinions of the butler being not a bad person still hadn't change but she know felt very uncomfortable with his peering gaze.

"Elise, bow." Vella quickly bowed after whispering to Elise and immediately Elise did what her friend pointed.

Maroon seemed to make a judgement with his eyes. "Don't speak in the hall." He warned coldly and disappeared back to his job. That being said, Elise took a note at the end after a while of watching Maroon, the White's mansion's butler. He was strict, cold, standoffish, but perhaps still not that much of a bad man.

On one evening, outside the back yard of the White's Mansion, Elise began on pulling the white bed covers from the wooden bucket and gave it a good whip to drain out the excess water before hanging it to the long thread. Seeing her works finally ended for the noon, Elise wiped her sweats with her forearm. Aryl her little friend who always seemed to be complaining of her friend's invitation nevertheless leave some times to check her fellow faeries, she usually did it in either early in the morning or late at night. But today, Aryl told her that she had something important to discuss with her friends and left for a whole day.

"It's time for your break, right? You can go now, Elise." Said the maid named Erline, still holding her bucket that had lessened from the mountain of white clothe.

"I'll be going then." Elise replied and left. Today for sure at her break time, Elise had planned to met her little friend Curly at the shed. She had been missing times too much and the maids' break each have times in the day schedule by the butler due to the large amount of servants inside the house.

When she get by the shed, Elise turned around watching the shed to find out where Curly. "Curly?" She spontaneously called the Cerberus's name hoping that the dog would remember his nickname that she gave.

"Hm?" A sound of a questioning him came behind her, Elise turned to look in surprise, finding a young man of her age standing with a rather tattered clothing. "Missy, are you possibly calling the name of the Lord's dog?" The young man asked.

"Yes, are you the one assigned for the shed?" She asked as she saw him holding a rounded brush that was used to brush the horses' mane.

"You're correct." The young man smiled, pulling his lips wide. "Are you a new maid?" He asked again and saw Elise nodding.

"Hm, I think someone must've told you this but the dog isn't friendly so I recommend to not get close to him or just don't greet the dog." The young man stated calmly.

"No, it isn't a problem." Though Curly was not friendly to the new people he just met, she remembered well of how tame Curly was. "Can you show me the way?" she asked politely.

The young man though for a long moment, mulling over whether he should've show her the way because to his eyes the girl is too fragile and he certainly doesn't want to witness a young girl wounded after being fiercely bitten by the dog. "Don't tell me I haven't warned you, alright." The young man spoke again.