She Belongs To The Devil

Ariel and the others were in the dining hall, in the presence of King Louis and Queen Helena of Romania. There were also several maids, servants, and guards inside the dining hall who were serving and waiting for the Royals and the guests.

The greetings and formalities had ended a while ago and all of the Royals and guests were enjoying the mouthwatering and lavish dishes that were spread out on the dining table. They were also indulging themselves in small talks while enjoying their food.

While all the others were busy eating and talking, Damien was unable to divert his mind away from the thick red aura that had filled the entire dining hall by now.

"What the hell is her problem? Why does she keep on emitting such a strong aura?" Damien was thinking to himself while keeping his head low and chewing the juicy meatball. "Should I just go ahead and help myself? It would be a waste to let this aura dissipate."

Damien slid his left hand under the table and was ready to absorb it all.

But before he did that, Ariel, who was sitting on his left side, leaned towards him and asked in a whisper, "Are you also seeing what I am seeing?"

Damien nodded his head in agreement.

Ariel glanced at Victoria.

Victoria looked a little bit scared and tensed, rather than angry.

And Ariel whispered to Damien again, "The source seems to be her. But can humans even produce so much aura? And she doesn't even look that angry. This isn't sitting well with me... something looks off."

Damien also lifted his head and took a glance at Victoria. Ariel was right. Either Victoria had to be really excellent at hiding her emotions from being reflected on her face, or something was very wrong here.

Damien darted his eyes around the hall and asked Ariel, "You don't see anything suspicious or out of the place, do you? To be more precise, you don't see anyone who doesn't belong here, right?"

Ariel felt a prick in her heart when Damien also pointed out the same thing that she had been thinking.

However, she denied that possibility at first because she had faith in her grandmother. "She wouldn't let anyone come near me," she thought to herself.

Kenneth was sitting on Damien's right side. He was talking with Grace while eating his dinner. However, he could also hear the conversation between Damien and Ariel. And he was concerned for everyone's safety, especially Ariel's.

He furrowed his brows and turned to look at Ariel and Damien. Both of them looked disturbed.

Ariel took a deep breath in and then countered her own thought, "But what if someone is actually here? What if they are really good at hiding in plain sight? Or what if they are good at hiding from everyone's sight, even from grandma's sight?"

The more she thought about it, the more restless she was feeling. Cold sweats started to form on her back and her forehead. She wiped the cold sweat that had trickled down her temple and shakily breathed in.

Ariel clutched the wings-shaped pendant that was hanging around her neck. And for a split second, she even thought of summoning her father.

But she pushed that thought away from her mind. She didn't want to summon her father without first being sure that her suspicion was true. And she definitely didn't want to put everyone under pressure and create chaos in a foreign land by suddenly making her father appear there.

Ariel closed her eyes and talked to herself in her mind, "Okay, Ary. You need to calm down and think. You need to calm down."

She took a couple of deep breaths in and finally a solution popped up in her mind. "Yes, that should do it," she thought to herself and slid both of her hands under the table.

Her grandmother had taught her how to see through disguises and invisibility spells. She began to perform intricate hand gestures. Her eyes glistened when she finished performing those hand gestures. And she carefully looked around the room.

She was looking for anyone who looked unusual in the dining hall – someone who did not belong there.

Damien also looked around, especially at the faces of the maids, servants, and guards who were inside the hall to make sure that they weren't showing any signs of aggression.

Though the source of aura seemed to be Victoria, he also couldn't rule out the possibility that someone powerful could be there in disguise, somewhere nearby Victoria.

But he didn't find anyone who looked suspicious, not even remotely.

And neither did Ariel. Enjoy new adventures from empire

"Anything?" Damien asked Ariel.

"Nothing." Ariel shook her head and sighed in confusion.

Kenneth, who was quiet for a while now, finally leaned towards Damien and asked, "Do we need to be cautious? Is something wrong?"

Damien, however, didn't have the exact answer to Kenneth's question. "I am not really sure."

"Let me test one thing," Damien mumbled so that both Ariel and Kenneth could hear him.

By now, both Damien and Ariel could see the aura getting thinner and thinner.

Before the aura vanished completely, Damien signaled to Ariel that he was going to absorb the remaining aura. After getting permission from Ariel, Damien did just that.

Even though the aura had become thinner by the time Damien had absorbed it, he felt a great surge of energy inside of him. He closed his eyes in satisfaction and quickly stuffed some food in his mouth so that the others would think that he was really enjoying the food on his plate.

After he opened his eyes, Damien narrowed his eyes at Victoria and mumbled again, "The aura was too powerful just like it seemed. But I don't know what more to say." He sighed and whispered, "I wish I could tell the difference just by tasting the aura. But sadly, I cannot."

Kenneth was now getting even more concerned. And he asked Damien and Ariel, "Shouldn't we seek help from someone who is more experienced about such stuff?"

He leaned and looked at Ariel. And he asked her, "Shouldn't you call someone? Maybe your grandmother? Or your parents and ask them to look into this?"

Ariel looked at her pendant and then looked at the King and the Queen who were busy talking with Zach and Niylah respectively. She then said to the boys, "First, I think we should wait for this dinner to be over. And I will call my father. He will know what to do."

Both Damien and Kenneth agreed with Ariel. They both knew that the sudden appearance of the monarch of another Kingdom, who was also the Devil Prince, in the middle of a happy dinner would make everyone uncomfortable.

The three of them continued to nibble on their food even though they had lost their appetite already.

Damien and Ariel were also constantly gazing at Victoria to see if she would emanate the aura again. But it didn't happen.

And Ariel and Damien thought the same thing, that maybe they were simply overthinking, that maybe Victoria was insanely mad about something a while ago. Still, they wanted to be absolutely sure.

So they eagerly looked forward for the dinner to end.