The Demon’s Bride

A/N: thank you for everyone's well wishes! I am feeling quite better and therefore, there would be two updates today~~

Elise walked over to the spot where Ian pointed, coming a step before him. He then bent, splaying his hand on the ground and then pulled it up for the box which had been hidden underneath the floor to be pulled upward by some unknown force. He then took the box which she saw to be quite better than it looked for its age. The sides of the box was covered with heavy dirt that rigidly settled itself on the corners, the fabric which covered the box had turned duller and the once golden border had turned lackluster. 

"There is a lock," said Elise, her fingertips touching the middle part of the box where a small keyhole was made. 

"Nothing too terrible," chuckled Ian and at the next moment, a clicking sound came from the box and the lid sprung up. Allow who was inside Elise's pocket snuck out, his breathings were heavy and he wanted to complain to Elise for running while disregarding his presence in the pocket. The ride was terrible but his complain was stopped when he saw the old box that Ian had pull out.

Ian took out the small card that was on the top of the letters that had been stacked properly inside the box. Taking it out, he then flipped to see what was written at it. A cursive and beautiful handwriting filled the middle of the snowy white card.

'Dear Lady Lucy White,

Though I might not be able to visit you as often as I always did, milady, I hope you all the happiness this world may bring for you, for you are someone who deserve them. My hope and prayers are with you for every steps you take on your marriage. I have a gift which I hope would bless your future child, it might not be something remarkable but it should be of help for them. 

Yours truly, your dear friend—'

Elise who bent her body then straightened her back when Ian stood up beside her, letting her have a better view of the card. She scrutinized every words written on the card only to frown on the last word of the card which was the name of the card's sender, but unfortunately to them the ink blotched with a stain of water that had fallen over the name of the sender.

"Do you know who this person might be?" Elise questioned Ian who shared the same frown as her as they were waiting for the sender name which was lost from the card.

"My mother was quite an introverted lady. She spent most of her time in the garden and taking a walk all over the mansion until she couldn't," couldn't because his father's second wife had came and barged into their life as an annoying fly she was. He did had his enjoyment watching the woman suffer the same pain as his mother did. "I thought I know all the people whom she knew as there was barely of them but it seems I was wrong."

Elise nodded her head, feeling closure to Lady Lucy even though she didn't know the woman or seen her yet. 

She saw Ian then pulled the card to his nose, sniffing it with a frown, "The fragrance has almost vanish but there's a light scent of an angel."

"Angel?" Elise inquired and Ian nodded, passing her the card. Hallow who then climbed on her shoulder took a sniff of the card as she did. Taking a sniff of the card, Elise also noticed the very faint scent of Lilacs, it was a very nostalgic and warming scent which filled her with assurance and peace of heart. Somewhere amongst the scent, it also felt like home but she couldn't point her finger to why she felt so.

"What do you think the Angel gave her?" At the same time of her question, Elise who raised her chin then was met with a necklace, on the opposite end of the necklace which Ian held was a small locket. 

"This, it slipped when I pulled the card earlier. They were attached together on the back of the card," Ian pointed, passing it toward Elise for her to look at. 

"This pendant..." whispered Elise after turning the locket around, her head tilting to the side before she pulled out the necklace which was hidden underneath the collar of her pale green dress. Pulling it out, she then took off the necklace she wore to line the two necklace beside each other. 

Ian knew it the moment he saw the necklace on the box that he had seen something closely similar to it. When the two necklace was placed beside each other, it looked more frighteningly similar. So similar that if one was to hide the two together or switch their place, no one would notice the difference. Looking closely, Elise also noticed how compared to the box, the necklace that was stored in the box for longer than nine hundred years still maintained its luster, as if the material of the necklace and the pendant was what caused it to stay in the beautiful condition it was once first made of.

"They are made from the same person... an angel," Elise said in realization.

"Maybe they are related to your grandfather, the maternal one I mean," Ian answered in reply holding the one that was gifted to his mother and raised it before his eyes. His red gaze continue to subtly study the necklace, "Other than the material, I cannot note what it is important from it but let's not forget how Lucifer wanted the necklace for himself.

"We should ask him what it is when we meet again," Elise asked and she saw Ian hummed, neither disagreeing or agreeing. As he didn't show a complete rejection to the idea, she stored the question in the back of her mind. 

"Let's take a look at the rest of the letters," Ian suggested and one by one, the letters were pulled out from the box. There was a total eleven letters. Elise held five of them and Ian held the same amount of letter with Hallow holding the last one.

Elise was the first to open the letters, noting what she noticed aloud at the same time, "The letters are all sent by Lady Lucy."

"That woman told me that three of the letters were stolen from my mother by her while the rest were returned by the postman, thy claimed that the destination of the other party cannot be found but she kept it a silence from my mother," Ian said stalely and Elise assessed the woman he mentioned was Arrah, the maid of the late Lady Lucy. 

"Then it must be these three which you have," Elise pointed and he nodded. Searching for something to open the letter wax, Ian offered his fingernail to cut the letter. Opening the letter, Elise was then quickly greeted with a warm scent of the morning sun, the scent similar to when a page of a book was opened under the sun, a very gentle and melodious scent. 

"There is no name to whom it was written for," Elise said upon reading the first writing of the letter, and she read aloud of the single paragraph of the letter, "I have been waiting for your reply, please come in contact with me as soon as possible. Godspeed."

"That was short," Hallow commented.

Ian also agree to the chick for the first time and opened the rest four letters, passing it for Elise to read the rest, "Ian, the content of the letters are most similar. Please reply to my letter. I need to know more. Come in contact with me..." when Elise reached to the last letter, her forehead creased to a frown that Ian didn't miss.

"What was written?" Ian inquired. Seeing Elise hesitation and the way her lips pursed, he could tell the content of the last letter would disagree with him and he was correct.

"I need your help, you are the only person whom I can trust this with you. Please do not ignore my letters," when Elise said he letter aloud, she could hear a loud crack from beside her shoulders. Her head turned, seeing Ian's blazing red eyes, where the box he held had cracked upon the pressure of his fingers. 

"Whoever this fucker that mother had spoken with, he has so much bravery in him to ignore her request," Ian remarked, his jaw setting tight in anger to hear the desperation his mother had when writing the letter.