The Devil's Temptation!

101 Under One Blanket

Ark Ville

***********

When it clocked evening, Anna quietly snuck back to the room after successfully avoiding Madame Alina’s neverending chatter but surprisingly, after making it to the room, it was totally empty and not even the presence of a certain someone could be sensed.

The candles were left burning brightly on the table and everything had a mystifying touch to it, one that gave off a feeling of loneliness that didn’t quite stick with Anna.

“Where did he go again?” Anna’s glimmering eyes slowly lost it’s brightness as she couldn’t spot the Demon anywhere in the room.

Did he go out?

“Yet he says I don’t listen, I told him not to step out for security reasons, but he didn’t listen to me.” She huffed, but just inhaling his scent that lingered in the room was enough to make her heart beat, bringing a full replay of what transpired between them earlier in the day.

She hadn’t seen him after that.

‘Where can someone like him possibly go? He barely knows the route of the Mayor’s mansion.’ she silently thought, not until a cool breeze blew the windows open, sending a freezing gust of air into the room and at her direction.

.....

She shivered while hugging herself as the cold air penetrated through her clothes to meet her skin.

“Why’s it so cold tonight?” She turned to look at the opened windows and as she reached to close it up, that’s when she caught sight of the alluring being.

He was sitting on a bench at the front yard, blowing air into his palms and rubbing them together. He looked like some innocent wanderer who was deep in thoughts and he rubbed both his arms to reduce the coldness feasting on him.

‘He’s not even with a blanket.’ thought Annalise.

She didn’t need any more sign to know he was freezing out there. Aren’t Demons naturally warm?? Why’s he cold? She’s given him her blood earlier this morning so he shouldn’t feel completely weak, right?

Closing the windows shut, she hurried to the wardrobe and brought out a blanket. She gets the feeling he might refuse to come inside if she says so, so why not take the warm blanket to him instead?

Leaving her room and closing it shut behind her, she headed for the front yard.

At the beautiful front yard adorned with flower beds and a silver fountain in the middle. Roshan stayed outside the mansion, sitting on the bench while letting his thoughts wander into different places.

He needed some alone time to himself and chose to come out where he could barely be noticed.

The freezing temperature outside aren’t really helping him, but he liked how relatively quiet it was. All he heard was the rustling of leaves caused by the gentle wind and those disturbing crickets adding to the tune of the nights.

For once, he looked visibly sad, his body felt cold and unfortunately he wasn’t in the mood to step inside just yet, but surprisingly, to him, that cold was instantly replaced with an unexpected warmth when he felt a blanket being gently draped on him.

A bit taken aback by it, he looked up to see who had found him, only to meet the innocent stare of Annalise who took a step back after draping the blanket on him.

“It’s cold outside.” She explained her reasons before he thought otherwise.

Instead of responding with something sarcastic or something that showed his arrogance, he just nodded and looked away while covering himself more with the blanket. A reaction she wasn’t used to witnessing from him.

“Is.... everything alright?” Anna found that to be very strange and he nodded.

“Yeah.”

“You don’t seem alright,” she pointed out, “are you feeling sick?”

He took a deep breath but said nothing, he had a lot of things troubling his mind at the moment and he had been dealing with it all by himself for many years. What’s the use of saying it now? Not to anyone to say the least but her..

“You should go inside, you’ll freeze out here.” He ignored her concern but instead of leaving, Anna stubbornly sat beside him with her cheeks puffed as she stared into basically nothing at all.

Roshan was baffled by her actions and just watching her act all stubborn when he wasn’t in the mood for it made him sigh dejectedly. To say he’s met anyone like this human sitting beside him would be a blatant lie.

“What are you doing?”

“Joining you in grieving.” She directly clarified.

“Grieving?”

Releasing her puffed cheeks, she let out a sigh andher expression displayed a look of empathy, “you’re a bad person Roshan.”

He let out a throaty chuckle at her words, “thank you.”

She glared at him, “now I’m torn between understanding things from your side and that of the Euphrasia’s. You carry so much burden all by yourself and don’t you know, when someone thinks too much, they grow old quickly and die.”

He rolled his eyes, “and who told you that?”

“My mother did.” She proudly said, “and she isn’t wrong, I’ve known my mother to be very wise and I’ve been thinking too much these days, I thought I saw a wrinkle somewhere.”

She instantly felt her face with an alarming expression as though she just remembered it, one that made Roshan snicker silently at how serious she took it and Anna didn’t miss his secret snicker.

“I’m being serious here and you’re laughing behind my back!”

“You’re unbelievable, I’m a demon, remember? I can’t get old.”

“Then I have to struggle on this alone.” She rubbed her cheeks lightly before letting out a soft gasp.

“Lady Gretta always says something like, ‘I heard’ that if you seal her mouth shut for a whole week, a lot of people in Viscarrian would gain Peace.”

“Wait what?”

“If Lady Gretta has something to say about someone, she indirectly uses ‘I heard’ like it’s some heaven’s language. Imagine if she couldn’t talk for a week, the maidens mostly will be free from her taunts.” She twitched her lips in annoyance but she had no idea her facial expression was coming out a little too serious and funny at the same time.

Roshan couldn’t hold back a laugh and decided to let it out, he found her a little funny tonight as she kept going on about so many things, she unknowingly pulled him out of his own state of despair as the colors on his face returned and his Hazel-green eyes were glinting with interest.

“I’m basically telling you my state of despair and all you do is laugh at me, you’re not nice at all.” She feigned a look of betrayal but just watching him laugh like that while staring at the side view of his enthralling face, made her realize how undeniably handsome he looked.

His rich laughter carried no malice and for the first time, he looked genuinely happy, or rather, he looked lightened.

“How did your mother cope with you?”

“Same way you’re coping with me. I troubled her a lot to be precise and when she left every morning for work, I kept praying she would come back cause I was really stubborn and had a feeling she might never come for me again.”

“And that sickness of being stubborn hasn’t left you.” He flicked her forehead lightly and she had the urge to reciprocate, but didn’t.

“So now you feel better after listening to my crazy stories, you have to pay me for this.”

“With what?”

“Clothes!” She exclaimed, “Ark Ville has such beautiful dresses and I want to get something simple I can take back to Viscarrian or Euphrasia.”

Roshan contemplated it for a while, but paused his thoughts on that after seeing Anna rub her shoulders slightly to ease the cold.

“Who knew Ark Ville can be this_” she wasn’t even done speaking when she felt the warmth of a blanket being draped around her shoulder and when she looked at Roshan, he was equally staring back at her.

“You’re welcome.” He said and Anna knew he was back to feeling himself.

“Welcome for what? We’re both under one blanket.” She pointed out after realizing the blanket was covering them both, pulling them towards each other.

“It’s big enough.”

She tried to free herself, only to end up being pulled even closer by him, forcing her to stop what she was doing.

“You really have no way of showing appreciation,” he tsked before a mischievous thought creeped into his head, noticing her cheeks turn into a soft shade of pink and adding to her charms.

“Or you don’t want me to notice your.... body heat? It feels even warmer if you ask me and we can both share...”

“You..!! Keep quiet!!...”

She freed herself from the blanket and instantly got to her feet before he did something again and just watching her flee made him laugh.

He enjoyed teasing the life out of her and just watching her escape made him feel like he was watching his prey go into hiding.

Anna, who wanted to run off, suddenly missed her step on the way, causing her slipper to slip from her right leg and she stopped.

She turned around and hopped on one leg, wanting to reach for her shoe when Roshan shockingly reached for it first. The enchanting being crouched on one knee, picking her shoe for her and the moment she brought her cute feet forward, he helped her slip her shoe right back, still remaining on his knees??

A sudden feeling fluttered in Anna’s heart, a very sweet and pleasing feeling. Where did he learn this good manners from?

She didn’t even say a ‘thank you’ to him before dashing off again.