She Belongs To The Devil

The next morning, Kenneth knocked on all the Princes' and Princesses' doors when the sun hadn't even risen yet.

"It's time to get ready. Get up everyone, get up!" he single-handedly created a commotion in the guest house.

The guards, coachmen, maids, and servants were already up and about. They were freshening up turn-wise and were getting ready to start another long journey by the ship.

Ramon and Zach got up without complaining about the noise. Their servants started to prepare a bath for the Princes while they were busy with their morning routine.

Kenneth went to knock on Ariel's and Niylah's doors again since they didn't come out yet. And he shouted from outside, "Ladies, your maids are waiting for you both. Get up, fast."

Inside Ariel's room, both the Princesses were still fast asleep. Ariel was sleeping on the blanket and was taking more than half of the space on the bed, while Niylah was crouching in a fetal position at the end of the bed.

They both frowned and wriggled when Kenneth kept on knocking on the door non-stop.

Ariel covered her face with the blanket and shouted while she was still half-asleep, "Cut it out! I am not asleep. I am just closing my eyes. I am wide alive."

Niylah rolled over and slipped her hands and feet under Ariel. And she mumbled, "Let me just thaw my body for a while."

Kenneth knocked on Ariel's door again. He rested his shoulder on the door and pressed his ear against the door.

And he reprimanded them, "Why am I hearing both of your voices from the same room? Did you two chat all night long? Even when I said that we had to get up early in the morning?"

The two of them had talked for almost the whole night. It hadn't even been two whole hours since they fell asleep. So they were unable to open their eyes.

Kenneth kept on knocking on the door and kept on irritating the Princesses so that they would wake up.

Ariel suddenly flung the door open and almost made Kenneth tumble on her. Find more chapters on empire

And she shouted at Kenneth, "What?"

Ariel was in her sleeping gown but she was standing with her legs wide apart as if she was in her battle armor. Her hair was flying everywhere, a few locks were covering her face as well. She had a deep frown in between her brows. And she was half opening her sleep-deprived eyes.

Kenneth turned to the side and pressed his fist against his mouth. He tried to control himself from laughing. But he ended up bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

Ariel fisted on her waist and asked monotonously, "And why the hell are you laughing like that?"

Kenneth pressed his lips together and wiped his tears. He shook his head and whispered while trying his best to suppress his laughter, "Nothing. It's just that I get to see your new sides every day."

Ariel blew the silver locks of hair away from her face. Her eyes were now wide open after seeing Kenneth laughing until he teared up.

"Am I not beautiful to you now? Is that why you are laughing?" Ariel narrowed her eyes at Kenneth and asked as if she was serious when in reality, she was simply trying to pull his leg.

Kenneth abruptly stopped laughing and shook his head. "Hey, I never said that…"

Ariel decided to make him laugh even more so that she could scold him again. She placed one of her hands on her head and the other on her hips. She awkwardly bent her hips to the side and tried to look as 'unappealing' as she could.

And she asked again, "Do I look beautiful now?"

Kenneth covered his eyes with his palm and chuckled because she indeed looked stupid and funny.

Ariel was about to scold him.

But right then, he cupped her cheeks and said while smiling, "Could an angel ever not look beautiful? You could dip yourself in mud and you would still look beautiful to me."

Ariel was dumbfounded by his reply because she hadn't expected that at all.

She folded her hands and frowned. And she defensively called him out, "L-Liar!"

"I don't think my aura is lying." Kenneth held Ariel's hand and placed it over his heart. And he stated, "And neither is my heart."

Ariel didn't need to check his heart to know that he wasn't lying. It was just that, her usual habit of pushing Kenneth away had kicked in momentarily.

Kenneth then leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Get ready now, beautiful. We need to head towards the port soon."

After saying that, he winked at her and walked away to take care of other things.

Ariel looked at him walking away and scoffed, "How can he casually say such things and walk away like that?"

She suddenly widened her eyes and mumbled, "Wait, did our role just got reversed? Didn't he used to say that to me all the time?"

Ariel felt a little giddy because her heart was pounding rapidly. She clenched her gown and took a deep breath in to calm her heart.

Ariel now knew how Kenneth must have felt every time she casually praised him and left him to deal with that warm and fuzzy feeling alone.

She watched him until he disappeared from her view. And finally, she turned around only to get startled by Niylah who was standing right behind her.

"Aah! What the hell, Ny!" Ariel frowned and tried to act normal.

However, Niylah grinned and flicked her brows at Ariel. And she teased her cousin, "I can see that there has been a lot of progress between the two of you."

"Alright, enough of this," Ariel pushed Niylah out of her room. "Just go and get ready."

"Okay, okay, stop pushing," Niylah headed towards her room with a smile on her face.

Osanna was standing close by and was watching everything unfold for a while now.

After Niylah left Ariel's room, she went inside and greeted the Princess. And as she headed to prepare the bath, she asked Ariel, "Crown Prince Kenneth is a nice man, isn't he?"

Ariel felt her blood flushing towards her cheeks when she realized that Osanna had also been noticing things. She simply gave a smile and nodded her head.

When Ariel finished freshening up, she headed towards the dining hall to find almost everyone there. Even Niylah was already having her breakfast along with the boys.

"Ah! I have to eat faster," she thought to herself, and went and sat together with the other Royals.

Kenneth gestured to one of the maids to serve food to Ariel.

Ariel gobbled up the breakfast in no time. She finished together with the others so that everyone wouldn't have to wait for her to finish the food.

And when everyone was ready, Kenneth settled the payment to the guest house stating that everyone from Wyverndale was already his guest.

Allen bowed to all the Royals and thanked them while holding a huge pouch of gold coins, "Please visit frequently, Your Highnesses. I will be waiting for your return."

"I will," Kenneth stole of glance at Ariel and smiled at the guest house owner.

"Okay, let's answer the calls of the ocean," Kenneth happily led everyone towards their carriage.

After everyone settled down in their respective carriages and horses, the group headed towards the Ironcoast Port.