Chapter 609: [Bonus chapter] Bickering
"You're early today," Lilith glanced at Theodore who had come to take her son as usual.
"Her Highness couldn't wait to meet His Highness. So, I had to come here." Theodore curled his upper lip in contempt and asked Lilith who was smirking at the moment, "Isn't it time yet that you take those inhibitors off from your son? I'm tired of being their transportation medium."
Lilith gave a corner-eyed look to Theodore and asked, "Isn't it time yet that you let your daughter go out of those barriers? She would come here on her own if you hadn't put countless barriers and spells to bind her."
"Ugh! It's pointless to argue with you." Theodore headed towards Damien's room while asking, "Is he in his room?"
"Yes."
"I'll take him then."
"Sure."
Lilith didn't follow Theodore since Damien had traveled more than a hundred times with Theodore already.
Theodore knocked on Damien's door. "Hey, you little brat. Your transportation vehicle is here. Let's go."
Damien was so worried thinking what would happen today that he got startled when he heard Theodore's voice.
"Give me a second," Damien answered while panicking a little.
He hurriedly shuffled through his wardrobe to search for a robe that would cover his neck.
He didn't want Theodore to notice the chain that he was wearing. If Theodore inquired too much then Damien was worried that the Devil would be suspicious of him before he and Ariel could even commence their escape plan.
After making sure that the chain wasn't visible, Damien walked out of his room. He gave a gentle bow and greeted Theodore, "Greetings, Prince Theodore."
Theodore patted Damien's shoulder and said, "It's nice to see you being respectful towards me, unlike the other brat at home."
Damien gave a soft smile as he knew who Theodore was referring to.
"Let's go then, shall we?" Theodore asked Damien without removing his palm from Damien's shoulder.
"Yes, please." Damien nodded.
When Damien and Theodore arrived back on the Earth Realm, Ariel was unable to hide her excitement.
She was more excited about getting the taste of freedom tonight than seeing Damien whom she always saw on the weekends.
"Come, let's go and play," Ariel grabbed Damien's wrist the moment she saw him and pulled him out of the antechamber of her parents.
"Ary, have breakfast before you two start playing," Adeline shouted after Ariel but the two children were long gone, given their super speed.
Adeline sighed and shook her head. "She barely listens to what I say when she gets to play with Damien."
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Ariel took Damien straight to Joyce's room so that they could talk more freely without having to worry about her parents with super hearing abilities.
Ariel slammed the door behind her and asked Damien as soon as they were with Joyce, "So, did you manage to bring it?"
Damien revealed the chain that he was wearing around his neck and replied, "Yes. After almost getting killed."
He recalled his condition yesterday and mumbled in a 'scared tone' in order to make Ariel, especially Joyce, appreciate his efforts more. "I was attacked by those vicious plants and had cuts and holes all over my body and wings and even on my face. They nearly sucked my soul. It is a miracle that I came back alive from there."
"Really?" Ariel felt a pinch in her heart upon hearing the struggles that Damien had to go through.
"Yes, for real." Damien then gave all the details of the pain and struggle that he had to go through to bring that Zobekker seedling to Earth.
Ariel enveloped Damien in her arms and said apologetically, "I'm sorry that I asked to bring such a dangerous plant without realizing that you could get hurt. I'm so selfish, aren't I?"
Damien smiled. He was happy to get appreciated by the angel he liked.
He pressed his cold fingertips against his cheeks and replied, "No, it's alright. I also wanted to see the v– the river with you."
Not just Ariel, Joyce also felt bad for making that kid retrieve that soul-sucking plant because of her greediness.
"You're all healed now, right?" Joyce asked Damien as her eyes trailed all over Damien's body.
Damien got out of Ariel's hold and replied to Joyce a bit sternly, "I'm a demon. Of course I'm healed now."
Joyce would have scolded Damien for rudely talking to her if it was any other day. But since Damien had gone far and beyond just so he could fulfill his part of the deal, Joyce didn't raise her voice at him.
Rather, she smiled and sweetly said to Damien, "I will make sure to do my best and cover for the two of you tonight so that you two won't get caught."
"Bleh!" Damien wrinkled his nose in disgust and shouted, "Don't talk in that voice with me. And definitely don't smile. You're going to give me a nightmare."
Joyce narrowed her eyes and tightly pinched Damien's cheek. "Are you sure that we're not arch enemies from our previous lives?"
Damien swatted Joyce's hand away from his cheek and shouted again, "Who knows? Maybe you killed me in my past life. That's why I can't stand your face."
Joyce pinched Damien's cheeks again and teased him even more, "With your attitude, I'm sure I sewed your mouth and you died because you couldn't eat anything."
"Demons don't need to eat," Damien wrinkled his nose and showed his tongue to Joyce.
"You could have been a worm in your previous life," Joyce also showed her tongue to Damien.
Ariel sighed and rolled her eyes. She wanted to discuss today's plan faster but those two weren't giving her a chance to speak.
And she screamed in a shrilling tone, "You two, shut up already! You two and your meaningless bickering! I'll kick both of your arses if you utter another word."
Both Joyce and Damien instantly turned silent after hearing her painful scream. They knew better than to provoke her.
Without saying another word, Joyce then held out her palm towards Damien.
And without speaking a word, Damien also took off the chain that he was wearing and placed it on Joyce's palm.
But things didn't go as smoothly.
"Arghhhhh!"
The moment that capsule with Hell's plant touched Joyce's palm, she screamed in agony and crouched down on the floor.
For a few seconds, both Damien and Ariel didn't react to her screams because they thought that she was just trying to mess with them.
However, she began shaking too and fro and her screams got even louder.
"Is everything okay?" they heard a maid's voice from outside.
Even after hearing that maid's voice, Joyce's gut-wrenching cries didn't stop.
And only then did it occur to Damien and Ariel that Joyce was not acting.
"Joyce!" Damien tried to snatch the chain back from her hand thinking that it was sucking her soul.
However, Joyce had closed her fist so tightly that he couldn't take it away.
"Your Highness? Is everything okay?" they heard that maid's worried voice again.
"We're just playing," Ariel dismissed the maid.
"Riri, give me a hand!" Damien asked for help while trying to pry open Joyce's fist.
Ariel instantly clasped Joyce's wrist tightly so that it would be easier for Damien to open her fist.
But Joyce suddenly turned back to normal and said as if nothing had happened to her, "I'm okay now. You can leave me."
Ariel glanced at Joyce's eyes and asked with a little hesitation, "Are you sure?"
"You looked like you were going to die!" Damien was still trying to open her fist. "What was happening to you?"
Several frown lines appeared on Joyce's forehead. She glanced at her closed fist and said in a confused voice, "I saw… I don't know… it felt like I was… Ugh! I don't know how to explain it."
She heaved a deep sigh and said, "I think this plant showed me some fragments of Hell. I guess it showed me the memory of the soul it sucked? Yeah, that must be it."
"Maybe it isn't compatible with you. I shouldn't have brought this plant from Hell here." Damien held out his palm and asked, "I'll take it back with me. In return, I will bring you something less dangerous."
Ariel also agreed, "Yes. I think you shouldn't keep it."
However, instead of handing it over to Damien, Joyce put that chain around her neck and smiled, "Come on! Don't underestimate me. At most this plant might give me some nightmares. I can handle those."
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