The Devil's Temptation!

When she stepped in, another maid she wasn’t quite familiar with was dressing the lady’s hair, running the many fingers of comb into her hair before neatly pinning it to the back.

Melrose’s expression was rather calm as her attention was more on the maiden who fixed her hair up, but Anna didn’t fail to grab the information from Becca that she can be quite hauteur when messed with.

“Good morning lady Melrose!” Anna greeted politely while dipping her head in a low bow.

“You’re late.” Came Melrose’s less offended and straight word as she wore pearls of bead bracelet on her wrists. Anna had already sensed it but before she got a chance to come up with an excuse, Melrose suddenly added, “a maid already told me you weren’t feeling well today, the fact you’re human made me believe that so I’ll let it slide, but do keep it in mind that I’m not a fan of workers being late.”

She looked at Annalise through the glass mirror and saw the human still has her head in a polite low bow.

“Thank you for your mercy.” She heard her say.

“What’s your name?”

“Annalise.”

.....

“I’ll call you Ann instead, long names tend to stress me out.” She returned her gaze to an opened book resting in front of her dressing table before flicking her wrist in Anna’s direction.

“You can proceed with whatever is left for you to take care of.”

“Of course.” Anna quickly dropped the basket by the side of the bed. Sitting on both knees on the cool marble tiled floor, she began to fold the dress, feeling relieved that the demoness she’s currently attending to is rather smart and knows how to interact with people.

It hadn’t been too long Anna started before Melrose closed the book she was reading and darted a glance at the maid who was done with her hair, and was currently focused on the jewelry she had to put on her.

“You’ve been working here for a long time right?” Melrose suddenly asked the maid who met her stare from the mirror and she nodded.

“Yes.”

“How true is the rumor that his highness Roshan once had a mate?” Melrose wasn’t the type who indulged in gossip like her sister Roseline, but since she’s inevitably part of the lady’s who might end up being chosen as Roshan’s mate, she might as well know the history about his love life.

Asking him directly when they eventually meet was a no go, she’s heard how easy it is to get him irritated and that was the last thing she wanted for herself.

Anna, whose full concentration was on the clothes she was folding, felt everything in her system automatically pause at Melrose fortuitous question. She didn’t believe it was possible until the maid responded.

“It’s not a rumor milady, it is true.” The maid confirmed it with a whisper, “but she passed away a long time ago.”

“What happened to her?”

“None of it actually happened in the palace but based on the story we heard, she died for love.”

Anna’s ears twitched at the new information and her heart drummed frantically in her chest, it was somehow funny to her that Melrose hadn’t dismissed her yet from her chambers, either she didn’t mind it, or she must assume she wasn’t capable of hearing them.

“Died for love?” Just like Melrose, Anna was completely taken aback by it but since she had her back against Melrose, her expression was fortunately hidden.

“What exactly happened?”

The maid shook her head sadly before speaking, “his highness didn’t get to live a comfortable royal life in the palace, like his older brother Azazel. I wasn’t here during his childhood but I heard he suffered immensely in the hands of not just his father, but sir Luderick as well.” The maid didn’t hesitate to tell the gist, “not a day would pass when his highness didn’t get a scar on his body and he would always confine himself in the darkness of his chambers, which has turned into a habit now.”

As the maiden spoke with a pity laced in her tone, Annalise could recall the memories she had visioned of him, locking himself in his dark chamber, sobbing silently with fear until his powers gets out of control and then he’d fall into an uncomfortable slumber when his eyes could no longer stay open.

Weak, alone to the point she felt his loneliness in those memories.

“His highness left the kingdom some years ago without any announcements, but according to Luderick, he was the one who gave his highness the freedom to go look for his mother.”

“What a liar.” Anna half mumbled in disgust while folding the clothes. That evil man knew that if the people figured out a young teenage demon escaped his grip, it would be a shameful embarrassment to his face.

At this point, Anna was no longer concentrated on the clothes she was folding, her mind, body and soul was on the story the maiden kept telling.

“It was during his journey his highness ran into his mate, I can’t recall her name but she helped him locate the village his mother once stayed in and that was Euphrasia.” The maiden added while Melrose listened attentively, “I never saw her, but I heard she was a very beautiful and brave demoness who slayed many awful Demons, using a sword gifted to her by some powerful priest.”

“The two of them were very much in love based on what I heard but despite being away from the palace, his problems never left him and many obstacles separated them until one certain day when she did something that went against her duty of holding the sword and the heavens struck.”

A breathless gasp left Anna’s lips after hearing the maiden speak and the hairs on her skin stood at attention, sending prickles of fear running through her veins to her heart.

“The sword that was gifted to her was a valerian sword, a sword only she was capable of controlling but I’m not sure how the rumors went but, it was said that she abused the power of the sword and instead of controlling the sword, the power of the sword controlled her and it led to the deaths of people.”

The more the made spoke, the more Anna could feel the terror, as though she could picture the scene in her head and that’s when it struck.

‘that dream.’ Her eyes horrifically widened at the recollection of the dream she had in Ark Ville, the dream where she saw herself killing several people with a sword and it made her headache, her heart racing in her chest like it had a goal of escaping her chest.

“She killed a lot of people,” the maid continued as she wore Melrose’s necklace for her, “....leading the heavens to stop her themselves since she was a powerful demoness, but when his highness tried to stop her himself, she stabbed herself instead with the blade after realizing what she did to the innocent people, unable to deal with the guilt.”

The maiden shook her head in pity, “It was said that if she hadn’t stabbed herself, she would have killed his highness. It was a decision that concerned life and death, she had to choose between taking her own life, or that of his highness, but her love for him didn’t let her get tempted by the sword and so she took hers, that’s why it’s said that she died for love.”

“Wow.” Melrose found it difficult to believe such a thing really happened, that the secret rumors were actually true and for the first time, she felt touched. “What happened to his highness after that?”

“His highness lost it, he was shattered by her death and the fact she died to save him. It negatively affected him as well as his mentality, that’s why he can’t remember it, he lost every memory that was associated with her. His mother and sister got killed after that, from then on, he became the cold, heartless, merciless being that we all see him as today.”

Anna hadn’t even realized it but when she felt something wet roll from her eyes down to her cheeks, she reached to touch it and saw it was her tears.

She was crying!

Only then did she realize her heart was aching terribly, she felt cold for some reason and couldn’t explain why all of this was even happening to her. All this deja Vu and unexplainable recognition that shows up in her dream. It was driving her crazy, most especially after listening to the story that matches her dream.

Why do they only appear to her??

“And you really don’t know the name of his mate??” Melrose wasn’t sure why, but she was interested in knowing the name of this lady that happened to capture the heart of Roshan.

“I can’t remember but I think....I think her name was Aveline.”