The Demon’s Bride

As Kyle spoke in a voice which was very low like a whisper, even Ruhan who was beside him couldn't caught well what he had said and went to accompany him to gather with the rest of the Church member.

In the late evening on the White's Mansion when the Sun had just been eaten down to the horizon, giving the Sky a rest from the sun. Elise who had learned what she should do inside the mansion was given a task to work as the cleaner of the hall with a morning shift. Mila had gotten back to her work and asked Elise to sweep the east wing of the hallway.

The place was quite dilapidated and forlorn, seeming to be abandoned and there wasn't any presence of people who came to the place for a very long time. She began to sweep the hallway. Although as always the White's Mansion was very dimmed to the point she hoped the Lord could change his mind and opened the curtain, she felt a little chill on her back when she imagined that a ghost could pass by the hallway.

Back at her house, she always helped her mother to clean the house, thus her movements were swift and before long, she had swept the hallway with speed. She looked back at the spotless hallway that she sweeped to hear a soft knock clinking from the large window on her left. She jolted, asking to herself whether this place is haunted, because she had once heard that an abandoned place would have more ghosts than a rowdy place.

The sounds of wind bursting to the curtain, the dimmed and narrow hallway with only her standing in the middle of the path with a broom. Surely the scene was quite chilling. No one would question even if a ghost jumped out suddenly, but for some reason, Elise believed that the White's Mansion wouldn't have any ghosts. She walked to the place where she heard the light knocking and opened the curtain to see her little friend Aryl. She was mumbling something unheard to her, smiling widely to show her delight for meeting Elise again.

Elise who was also happy painted her face with a smile. She opened the glass window and greeted. "Aryl!"

"Elise! I'm sorry I was late. I have been absent for years, you see." Aryl danced in the sky, swinging her little feather wings and flew across the right side of her face, "All my friends when they saw me immediately dragged me off somewhere. Asking about this and that, some useless things of the faeries land with their new things. I just finally squeezed out from their endless bickering and came here! What are you doing here?" Aryl asked but then saw the broom and her black maid uniform and shrugged her shoulder. "Sweeping the floor? That damned Demon, I thought he brought you here as a lady but as a maid? Should've beaten his mind with some senses!" Aryl reminded herself for calling Ian as a demon and how Elise was angered that time and found herself stuttering. "I- No I mean, Ian. Yes. Him."

Due to how fast Aryl spoke, Elise could only catch a few of her words. Particularly the first sentence she spoke because the second one sounded like a burst of annoyance. "Were you with your friends before? You don't have to worry about me and have fun with your friends."

Aryl floated next to Elise's shoulder as the girl closed the window. "Nah, beside you are more fun, there I would only play the same games over and over anyway." Aryl spoke but truth to be told, she was worried to leave Elise alone at Ian's Mansion. Knowing his nasty personality that had been spread to the faeries land, when it comes to Elise, she still couldn't place her full trust to the man.

Elise sang her 'oh' as a reply when suddenly she heard a clinking sound of bells ringing through the hall. Aryl swung at the air, searching for the source of the bell and noticed it started from the corner of the ceiling. "What is that?"

Elise unknowingly had her face brightened like a burst of light. She stepped her feet a little faster while replying. "It's the sign that the Lord have come back. Let's go, Aryl." Elise spoke brightly, beaming with happiness.

"Go for what?" Aryl asked lazily.

"Greeting the Lord's homecoming, it's a tradition for the servants to greet the Lord at the entrance when he came back home."

"You don't have to, though." Aryl spoke spitefully, as expected she can never put her trust to that Demon.

"Don't say that." Elise replied and placed the broom near the corner of the hall where usually the broom and other supplies were placed and found her way to the main entrance. Mila turned her face left and right, searching for Elise. When she found the girl, she raised her hand subtly and hunted her to line among the other maids. Elise stood beside another maid across Mila and turned her face to see Carmen. Carmen also noticed her standing beside her and whispered with a smile. "We met again, Elise."

"Yes." Elise had just replied a single word when she heard Vella beside Carmen clearing her throat loudly to warn the two to stop talking.

Carmen winked at Elise and both of them straightened her back. At the same time, the door was opened, Ian with a black appearance and a long dark blue coat arrived at the door. She noticed the other maids bowed and kept their head lower with their gaze on the floor.

Elise was about to do the same thing but her eyes were fixated on the pair of Crimson eyes that gazed straight to her eyes. As though her whole conscious was taken with the deep red eyes, no matter how hard she tried to tear her eyes away from him, she couldn't moved her gaze.