She Belongs To The Devil

It was already nightfall. And Theodore, Adeline, and Ariel were in their own quarter.

Adeline was holding Ariel in her arms and was giving a glare to Theodore. "Why would you show Izel to the kids, Theo? Even I used to be terrified of him. And you didn't think for a second that the kids would be even more terrified when they were suddenly introduced to the ghoul?"

Theodore drooped his shoulders and apologized. "I'm sorry, Adeline. Ariel started to cry asking me to take them to show the demons. And I didn't have the heart to say no to her."

Theodore went and stood next to his wife and his daughter. He leaned to see his daughter's face and asked, "I mean, do you know how cute our daughter is." He held Ariel's small hand and kissed her on her knuckles and asked again, "How could I possibly bear to see tears in these cute eyes?"

Ariel started to giggle while Adeline frowned at Theodore. "You spoil her too much, Theo."

Adeline let out a deep breath and said, "And you already knew that we were planning to teach the children the theory about everything first. We could have shown the real things to them afterward." She shook her head and sternly said, "But you had to ruin all the curriculum that I had in mind for them."

Theodore gave a meek smile to his wife and tried to show her a new perspective, "We can follow the curriculum as you have designed. I have given them a huge spoiler. So the classes will be rather interesting for them since they now know that everything they had thought to be a myth is real. They will be attentive in the theory classes."

Adeline flicked her brows and nodded, "Well, that might also be the case." She walked towards Ariel's bed and lay her down. "You better apologize to Nigel and Rhea though. If Ramon and Niylah have told them about today's incident then they must be really mad at you."

Theodore drooped his shoulders again and mumbled, "Can I not run away from them? Hide from them until they forgive me?"

Adeline chuckled at Theodore and tucked Ariel in. She kissed her daughter's forehead and wished her goodnight.

"Goodnight momma," Ariel touched her mother's cheek with her small palm and gave a bright smile to her mother.

She had always admired her mother's beautiful face and she would always touch her mother's cheek before going to sleep. That was her way of showing admiration towards her mother.

Theodore also kissed his daughter and asked, "You won't get scared right? Can you sleep alone?"

Ariel nodded her head and said to Theodore, "I can. Goodnight dada."

Theodore gently pinched Ariel's cheek and proudly said, "My brave girl. Goodnight."

Adeline blew the lantern and candles in Ariel's room. And the husband and wife headed for the door.

But when they were about to reach the door, Ariel asked in a soft voice, "Dada, did your friend try to eat you?"

Theodore furrowed and turned towards Ariel. "Friend? Who are you talking about? That scary demon that you saw today?"

"No," Ariel glanced at her father and corrected him, "I was talking about Damien's mother. Did she try to eat you when you were small?"

Theodore wanted to laugh at that question of his daughter. He would have loved to say that Lilith had tried to kill him rather than eat him. However, he didn't want to scare his daughter more than she already was.

So he answered, "Why would she try to eat me? She is my friend." He let out a soft chuckle and asked, "Why do you think that she would try to eat me anyway?"

"She is a demon, isn't she?" Ariel gulped and said with a little shaken voice, "And demons eat children. Didn't she try to eat you when you were a children?"

Theodore fisted over his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. He wondered where she got such an idea from.

Adeline just gave up and ran away because she was finding it hard to hold in her laughter. For some reason, the thought of Lilith trying to eat Theodore was too funny not to laugh.

Theodore cleared his throat and said in a serious voice, "Ary, yes there are indeed demons who eat children and some even eat adult humans."

He said that in order to keep the seeds of fear towards the demons in his daughter's heart intact. It was a good way to make her avoid coming into contact with other demons who could possibly try to harm her because of her blood ties with Lucifer and him.

But he also clarified to Ariel, "But your friend Damien and his mother don't eat us. They are good demons."

Ariel's face instantly glowed up with happiness. She had been wary about going to play with Damien after Ramon had planted the doubt in her mind. But after hearing from her father that they were good demons, she was relieved.

And she excitedly asked her father, "Dada, take me to Damien's Palace tomorrow, okay?"

"It's not…" Theodore was about to say that Damien didn't live in a Palace but he let her daughter think so. He gave a nod and said, "Okay, we will go there."

---

The next day, Osanna prepared the Princess for her first formal visit to Hell.

Ariel was wearing a light blue skirt. Her hair was tied up to form a small ponytail. And this time, she asked Osanna to pack some of her actual toys so that she could play with Damien.

And when Theodore came to pick her up, she carried the bag on her back and held out her hands so that Theodore could pick her up in his arms.

Theodore carried her and informed her about his plan, "Ary, first dada will take you to dada's another workplace, okay? And then I will take you to Damien's place."

Ariel nodded her head and smiled. She was happy with wherever her father would take her as long as she would also get to meet her friend.