The Demon’s Bride

Esther and Beelzebub shared glances, an unspoken conversation was exchanged by them with their eyes. Beelzebub raised his hand and caught the demon by his neck, pulling him which would be better described as dragging him across the floor. 

"Now show us the way, will you?" Beelzebub's words sounded like a request but to other's ears and after the bloody mess he caused, it was a pure threats.

Esther made one last eye contact with Beelzebub and followed him. 

Who is it? This person Reviys is someone they don't know but it doesn't seem the same to him. Based on how he had laid a trap to rouse Beelzebub's interest means he knows Beel deeply enough to know his deepest nemesis.

Leaving the store, they had to teleport over four mountains to finally arrived at a single mountain. Esther once thought she had been around Hell and all lands had been discovered by her or at least she would have heard the whisper of the land and yet here she was, startled by the tall mountain that was covered with a heavy blanket of snow.

The coldness or the air was deadly. If Esther hadn't come with her coat, she would have been sure this coldness could turn her skin purple and brittle. If one would to spend their time there without a single fire near them, they would, indefinitely loses their life. 

"This mountain," Esther started, shuddering when the air brushes the back of her neck. She realized this coldness didn't come from the air and temperature alone but more than that. There was an ongoing dread that circulate in the land.

"You have never seen this I believe," Beelzebub responded, making her question his words. "The mountain appears around a hundred years ago. I assume, since I have never seen you beside Leviathan during that time you weren't there."

"I left Hell before that time," she confirmed, "What do you mean by appear?" 

"Exactly as I have said, it appeared all of a sudden. There was said a fight between Satan and an icy monster laying underneath the Hell's floor and the fight caused the mountain but no one knew for sure."

Esther creased her eyebrows. It was indeed not rare for a part of a land to miraculously appear in Hell as almost all part of the land was surrounded by mysteries. 

"And explain what you know about this Reviys," ordered Esther to the demon who was now standing in front of them, constantly keeping his glances to them in fear.

"I… I don't know. He is a very powerful demon when I met him. It's not exactly meet as I could never see his face. But whenever he came to the shop, we could feel the magnitude of his power even from outside," the demon replied. "Oddly, even though he is powerful enough to scare a person by his presence alone, I don't think I have ever heard his name from others. I thought it was because he tried to hide himself…" 

Esther could tell the demon's continue answer. He thought the demon was hiding his presence as a part of his plan but when he realized even Beelzebub, a fellow high demon, didn't know of Raviys, that something odd was occurring here.

At the end of their conversation, the fog that thickened around them which was caused by the heavy snowflakes pouring down from the sky, Esther opened her eyes again to find herself in front of a house. 

It was a large mansion and a beautiful one. The only minus of the mansion's appearance was its gray and dull walls.

Beelzebub narrowed his eyes upon seeing the mansion. 

"What's wrong?" Esther didn't miss the sour change of expression that happened on his face.

Beelzebub looked at her with a frown, "I know this mansion. This is a mansion that was once illustrated in books."

"Illustrated in books?" Esther wasn't sure of children's books in hell. She lived in hell but her in her childhood reading a book was a privilege she couldn't attend. 

"A children's book. A tale famous in Hell—" Beelzebub haven't finished his words when his eyes snapped to his right where the gate of the mansion moved to open itself. There was no one at first but it was clear the mansion was inviting them to enter.

Not soon from the heavy pour of snow, Esther tugged Beelzebub's clothes. She noticed the faint figure of two people walking toward them. It became clearer that the two people was girls who were dressed in a maid attire.

The girls had the same exact face mirroring each other. Their hair was braided on the opposite side of their companion.

"We will take care of that," the maid said to Beelzebub, mentioning the demon. 

Beelzebub with ease threw the body of the demon to the maids. They acted as if it was a simple trunk they had to carry. Walking to the demon, one of the maid silently made her way to the mansion. Meanwhile, the other maid offered her hand into the mansion, "Please come in. The Lady has been waiting for you."

Lady? 

Esther had guessed by the masculine name Raviys was a man. She didn't know it would be a lady. They entered the mansion while holding their skepticism. Even though the entire sequence of the person and the mountain itself to be dangerous, they couldn't feel the danger around the mansion.

"What does the tale spoke about?" Esther finally asked. She didn't bother lowering her voice as the maid could hear all words they exchange if they were to whisper anyway.

"A female demon. She's known to be like a snow, disappear at a time and appear at a time. Her appearance would make one question if they were seeing the truth or if they were under an illusion because once she appears she would disappear in a blink of an eye." 

"That sounds like very much to a character in all tale. What happened to her in the tale?" 

"She was born without a heart. Her heart was hallow and thus she used her magic to create a fake heart. She would travel all around the place to find herself a heart. It was a tale about the demon's curse."

Like his greed curse, thought Esther in her mind.

"In the end she wasn't able to find a heart to replace her own because no matter how much heart of all creatures she put into her hollow chest, nothing worked for her. They all didn't make a single beat," Beelzebub explained in detail.

"You know this story well," Esther assessed.

"My mother loved the story. All demoness looked up to this demoness. Although in the end she faded away. Like how the beginning of the story mentioned, she appears like an illusion and disappear as an illusions."

"And?" Esther could see from his red eyes there was still more words to come. 

"They said while the demoness wasn't able to find a heart to replace her hollow one, she has all power in this world to cure all demons' curse," Beelzebub's frown deepened even though this should be a good news to him. "I once foolishly thought that this tale might be true and did some rituals to call her. Don't keep your hope up that this woman who lives here might be the same demoness of that story."

Esther understood what Beelzebub tried to warn her. He didn't want her to raise her hope only to drop it to the bottom of the ocean of disappointment.

She nodded but in her heart she didn't keep that hope away from her. 

The maids continue to treat them politely until she had ushered them to the largest room in the mansion. The fire crackled from the fireplace. Esther didn't feel at ease sitting at the couch but as Beelzebub had made the first action to sit, she felt trustful of his choice and took a seat next to him.

"You're here aren't you?" Beelzebub questioned, shocking Esther.

He wasn't talking to her but someone else in the room. 

The maid who had showed them inside the room or perhaps the other one— who Esther wasn't sure as both of them had the same face— came back to stand in front of them and brought out a large oval mirror.

She sat down and held the oval mirror in front of her. The mirror was wide enough to cover the maid's entire upper body.

"You are Raviys?" Esther daringly questioned.

"No dear," she chuckled, Esther at first couldn't see the face of the person until she finally able to make out a face of a woman. Her heart almost stopped when she found half of the woman's face had been covered in a large claw-like scars.. "I used the name only to call you two here."