She Belongs To The Devil

By now, the servants had started to grill the meats of deer, rabbits, and wild boars that the Princes and Princesses had hunted during the day.

King Walter and Queen Florence were sitting side by side while watching those game meats and happily talking with each other.

Kenneth let his parents enjoy their time together and gathered his friends on another side of the fire. The evening was chilly, so all of the Princes and Princesses were enjoying the subtle heat from the fire.

While the others started to talk among themselves, Kenneth was constantly looking at the entrance of the garden as if he was waiting for someone to enter.

Ariel, Niylah, and Ramon were busy discussing some heavy stuff that went over Zach's head. So he turned to look at Damien and found him pretending to understand those three. He could tell that Damien was pretending since he was simply touching his chin and nodding every once in a while, without contributing anything to the conversation.

Zach smiled and then turned to face Damien. He then leaned closer to him in an attempt to have a 'secret' conversation. And then he asked in a whisper, "What did Kenneth tell you earlier? Did you get scolded? Or did you get some whops on the arse?"

Damien cleared his throat and then whispered back in Zach's ear, "You do know that besides Ramon, everyone has sharp hearing?"

Zach's smile suddenly vanished from his face. He looked at Kenneth hoping he wasn't paying attention to the front-biting that he was doing. However, he found Kenneth pressing his fist over his mouth and chuckling.

So Zach pretended as though he wasn't trying to hide anything and said, "Of course, I know that." And he asked the same question in a louder voice, "So, did you get your arse thwacked by Kenneth?"

And now, his voice was loud enough to be heard by the King and the Queen who were sitting on the opposite side of them. Zach felt their scrutinizing gaze on him and became flustered. He gave an awkward and nervous smile and hid his face behind Damien's shoulder.

Then he aggressively whispered to Damien, "See! That was why I was whispering. Now Ken's parents will think that I am a bad Prince."

Damien simply looked down at the ground and laughed at that embarrassed Zach.

Kenneth was also laughing at Zach. He lifted his chair and placed it behind Damien's chair so that he could talk with Zach in whispers.

And he teased Zach, "Don't be shy now, Zach. 'Arse' isn't a bad word."

"Yes, Zach. It isn't a bad word. Why are you so shy?" Damien also added to the mockery and kept on laughing.

Zach pouted and said to both of them, "I thought you two were mortal enemies. Why the hell are both of you teasing me in cohesion?"

"Because it's so much fun to tease you," Kenneth replied without missing a beat.

Those three of those boys huddling together and laughing didn't go unnoticed by Ariel. And she was also noticing how there wasn't any bad blood between Damien and Kenneth unlike how it was just until yesterday.

"It's nice to see them laughing with each other instead of fighting," Ariel thought to herself.

After today's forest incident, Ariel was a bit clearer about her feelings. However, she didn't want to let rush her decision just yet. "I think I should wait until this trip is over. I at least owe that much courtesy to Kenneth," she thought.

After a while, Kenneth saw someone by the entrance. He got up and went nearer that middle-aged man. And he asked him, "Why are you so late? Didn't the Royal Advisor give you any specific time?"

That man, who was carrying a lute, humbly bowed to the Crown Prince and replied, "I am extremely sorry, Your Highness. But I was given this time."

"It's alright then. But the barbeque began a while ago. So let's not waste any more time." Kenneth then walked to join the rest of the Royals again while being closely followed by the bard.

Kenneth then said to everyone after clapping and getting their attention, "Alright. Let me introduce you all to our Kingdom's famous bard. His songs are really melodious and entertaining. Let's enjoy the song while we have our food."

The Royals and Damien gave gentle claps as the bard bowed to everyone present there.

He immediately started playing his lute and then started to sing his famous songs.

The maids were cutting the meats into bite-sized pieces and were bringing them to the Royals for them to enjoy while listening to the beautiful love song.

The Princes and Princesses of Wyverndale were excited to listen to that bard who was singing with all his heart.

King Walter leaned closer to his wife and asked her in a whisper, "My Queen, would you love me more if I also knew how to write love songs and poems?"

Queen Florence hid her face behind her palm and smiled. She was too embarrassed to say anything because she knew that their son could hear them.

Not just Kenneth, but Damien also happened to eavesdrop on their conversation instead of focusing on the bard's song. A smile appeared on his face as he saw himself and Ariel having such a conversation when they would look that old… after a couple of thousands of years.

"I hope that our love will grow stronger with time," he thought to himself and stole a glance at Ariel.

He caught her looking away from him.

And his smile widened even further.

After a couple of songs, Ramon whispered something in his sister's ear and then got up from his chair. He went to the maids who were serving the mouth-watering meats and asked them something. And he walked away from the garden.
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Moments later, one of the maids followed Prince Ramon while carrying a plate full of varieties of meats.

Ramon went and stood in front of the door of one of the guest rooms and knocked on the door. "Lady Grace, it's me, Ramon. May I come in?"