The Devil's Temptation!

Fortunately, she had spot it leaving the room which enabled her to go after it without losing it’s sight.

But right now, she looked no different from a little girl having fun with her new found pet as she scampered from one direction to the other, her ponytail hair equally bounced with her movements.

“Oh my! Be careful princess...”

“Avoid tripping on the way...”

“Ah!...no running around princess.” The Maidens who were startled by Gemma’s quick energy as she dashed past the corridor only made them shake their heads helplessly with a hint of worry. If Lady Gretta spots her behaving unladylike, the maids are going to have their ears full for not stopping her.

Gemma, however, ignored their remarks and only paid close attention to the bird she was currently chasing after. Her hazel eyes childishly glimmered in triumph when she finally caught the bird with both arms, feeling victorious that she had won their little chase without hurting the poor thing in return.

She gave it’s head a gentle loving pat before carefully cross-checking it’s body to make sure she hadn’t injured it further. To her surprise, a soft sobbing instantly caught her attention, making her ears twitch in response and the blue bird chirped as well.

Turning her little head to the side with a curious stare, her prying gaze landed on the door by her right, it was slightly opened and the soft crying seemed to be coming from in there.

.....

Suddenly concerned about who was crying in such a sad tone, Gemma silently reached for the door and quietly pushed it open using her elbows. She craned her neck in to see who it was that occupied the room and to her innocent hazel eyes, a lady sat on the tiled floor in the darkest part of the room, hugging her knees with her head resting on them.

The loneliness surrounding her at the moment was one that could easily be felt, even to Gemma. She could see the stranger had no one around her and understanding how it felt to be alone most of the time, it gave Gemma a heart ache just by seeing her state.

With an expressive stare, Gemma watched the strange lady cry for a few more minutes before silently making her way in.

Due to Anna’s keen sense of hearing, she could already sense someone’s presence in the room as the sound of light footsteps echoed into her ear. Alarmingly, she raised her head back up, causing the little one to stop in her tracks while Anna met her startled stare.

Her eyes had reddened a bit due to how long she had been crying but the girl just silently stared, confusingly tilting her head to the side as though asking why the stranger was crying.

Anna, who didn’t understand the girl’s gesture and found her silence to be a little awkward, decided to speak first as she quickly wiped her tears away, recalling that she was actually crying earlier before the girl intervened.

Did she hear her cry? It was quite embarrassing to her that a little girl witnessed her crying in the first place.

“Did you lose your way? You shouldn’t be here.” Anna softly spoke to the little girl who just stood at where she was, the blue bird gently held by both her grasp kept chirping for release, which Gemma ignored as she had come to know just how stubborn the bird can be.

Seeing as the girl had no intention of leaving or even speaking, Anna proceeded to say something else.

“Why..... are you here?”

Hearing that question, Gemma finally moved forward with quick steps, only to sit beside the paranoid Anna on the tiled floor. She showed her little blue bird to Anna with a solemn gaze, pointing at the small injury it had on one of its wings which Anna quickly took notice of.

‘It’s injured.’ her mind whispered it to her before looking into the eyes of the strange, yet adorable little girl.

“You want me to help you treat it?”

Gemma immediately nodded with a hopeful smile, feeling glad that the strange lady understood what her big sister couldn’t. At this point, Anna’s tears had been unknowingly held back due to her surprise and the girl’s unexpected airy presence.

Shifting her gaze to the door which was still open, she wondered where the little child came from or who she belonged to? Was she a demon? Did Roshan send her here to ensure she hasn’t escaped or something?

“Did someone send you over?”

Gemma shook her head at the question, relieving Anna a bit but not completely. At least she would be out of sight from Roshan in the meantime but sooner or later, she’s bound to be by his side again.

Slightly shivering in fear, she pushed aside her fearful thoughts and brought her gaze back to the little girl. Studying her more perfectly, the girl looked really harmless and adorable, her dressing looked standard like those born from higher nobles.

“Uhmm... what’s your name dear?”.

The little girl said nothing again and only blinked, as though she didn’t understand what she had been asked and ever since she got here, she hasn’t even uttered a single word, leading Anna to finally inquire with a cautious gaze.

“You..... can’t speak?”

The little one’s gaze suddenly lowered like she was staring at the tiled floor, giving her facial look a pitiful expression and it took a few more minutes of silence before she finally nodded in response, curling her toes when the thought of being pushed aside came to her mind.

Anna’s pained heart was instantly replaced with sadness as the color on her face reduced to a certain amount that displayed her shock. She can’t speak?? And at such a young age too?

Anna couldn’t imagine what life would be if she ever lost the ability to talk and this time around, she felt pity for the little one. Seems like everybody in the world has a bit of their own personal problems and one should really be grateful no matter what trials they face in this unforgiving world.

No matter how one actually imagined life to be, it can’t always be perfect.

Turning to look at the girl with a smile to avoid making her feel uncomfortable, she said.

“It’s okay then, I’ll help you treat your pretty bird, let me see.”

With happiness returning to the girl’s beautiful hazel eyes, the little one handed the bird to Anna who proceeded to study the wing of the blue animal. It was nothing but a slight cut on the little animal’s wing skin but if properly treated, it shouldn’t be a problem.

“Your bird will be fine, but can you get me a few things that I might need to treat it?”

The girl nodded right away.

~

“How could I forget...” Roshan softly muttered to himself as a realization dawned on him, “she’s human....” He returned his gaze back to Levi who stared at him with twinkling eyes.

Sigh....Why wasn’t he surprised.

“Get a maid to send some food to Anna.” Came his quick order as he turned away from Levi, tiredly resting his back against the edge of the pool but the cheerful being gently rubbed his temples with his brows neatly furrowed, wondering why Roshan was sending food to his new pawn.

“Food?”

“She’s not a demon like us, we can go without food but she’s human, she can’t.” Roshan still found it difficult that he had let something as important as that slip from his head.

Levi equally realized it himself and nodded, “That is true.”

“Go.” Roshan’s deep tone was compelling as he threw his head back while closing his eyes. Levi couldn’t even risk waiting another second due to how much power his tone weighed and instantly left the room like he was being chased away.

“What happened?” Questioned Azazel, whose gaze had become stoic like he was about to start some sort of investigation due to Roshan’s complicated moods this past few days

“Can you be a little more clear?”

“Fine, I’ll pretend you’re dumb and explain it better this time.” His words were laced with sarcasm which Roshan chose to ignore and hear the tongue twisted Azazel out, “Why did you bring the human here?”

“Cause she’s of great use to me.”

“And?”

“And what else do you plan on hearing?” Roshan coolly fired back, causing a half-serious smile to enchant Azazel’s demeanor but just as it came, it equally disappeared.

“The temple, how did you escape?” There wasn’t even the slightest hint of emotion in Azazel’s tone as he spoke, more like he was analyzing what he noticed as his gaze traveled to Roshan’s exposed scar.

“You didn’t get out of that temple yourself, I know.”

Roshan on the other hand already expected it and really wished he could drown himself again to escape Azazel’s disturbing question, it seemed difficult to ever hide anything from the white-haired Enigma.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Came his cold response as a glint of anger danced in his green irises, “but I’m angry, yet so unsure of what I’m upset about.”

“Anna was the one who opened the seal door, am I right?”

“A human opened the door, coming close to the door meant death Azazel, what if she died??” He had been so upset about it and for some reason, he couldn’t fathom the idea of her even dying.

To the extent he even vented it out on her earlier today.

“What’s your issue?” Azazel suggested.

“Since I’m out of that disgusting place, the dark clouds should have cleared off shouldn’t it? But the forest is still plunged in darkness.”

He cryptically informed and judging from Azazel’s clueless look, it meant he knew nothing about it either.

“That means something else is trapped there?”

They both met each other’s stare as though they had just thought of the same thing.