The Devil In Disguise - Chapter 4 In Which Everything Goes Wonderfully Wrong

Once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy. The boy asked the girl to marry him, but the girl said NO! And she lived happily ever after, the end. Love stories are lies, I still don’t know why I’m still reading this book. What I expect from this book was wrong, ‘The Land Of Dreams And Nightmares’, I thought that it will be like a war between angels and demons but it’s just a love story between a girl and a boy, a boy who was evil and the girl is the one who’s going to make him a better person, I sighed, what a clich.

I put down the book and closed my eyes, sitting under a tree and I was lost in my thoughts, then suddenly…

“BOO!”

I was caught off guard when someone just yelled at my ear, that someone is cute and has pink hair and blue eyes, her name is Malene Sonnenfield, she’s the daughter of the Viscount here in Wintervale, she’s talkative and always bugging me. We first met on our first day in Halcyon Academy of Magic, it’s a school for magicians like us.

“Are you sleeping?” she questioned while smiling at me, she looks like a puppy.

“No, I’m training to die.” I howled with sarcasm, I pondered why is she so bright and energetic all the time.

Malene noticed the book beside me and became excited, she may have read it.

“My God! Is this ‘The Land of Dreams and Nightmare’!?, I love this book!” she jabbered as she began to open it and turn the pages.

“Now that you have something to do, see you later.” I joked with a smirk then began to leave.

“Hey, wait up where are you going?” she followed me with the book looking at me curiously.

“To the training grounds.” I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, are you going to practice? Practice with me.” she nagged and her eyes were sparkling wanting me to practice with her.”Please?” aaaaand now she’s using her puppy eyes.

I sighed, “Do what you want.” I consented and we were gone to the training grounds.

Nothing really happened, we just practised magic leaving us tired and ran out of mana. Unfortunately, I can’t spar with her since she’s just a magician unlike me who can wield a sword like a knight. We took a rest first and her speaking nonstop like always, she’s annoying but she’s my friend and I like her, but I’ll never admit that.

“Working hard as always, I see.”

A beautiful woman said, walking towards us and she’s wearing a golden armour with carvings, she’s a redhead with golden eyes, her name is Grace. She’s a knight and a friend of my mother, she’s also my mentor, the one who teach me how to wield a sword. Like her name, she’s grace, even when walking, she walks with grace. Grace is infamous for being one of the strongest knight in Wintervale.

“Hello, Grace!” Malene greeted her with a smile on her face.

“Good afternoon, you two must be practising,” Grace said.

“Yes we are, Grace do you have time? I want to spar with you, without magic.” I offered. We haven’t seen each other for some time, she’s a busy woman.

“Very well.” She took off her armour.

We both grab a sword, then we walked away to have some distance between us. Malene stayed in the training grounds to spectate us. I’m the one who took the first move, I charged towards Grace and took a swing of my sword but– she blocks it with hers. Both of us exchange blows after that.

Time passes and I was exhausted and my breathing became heavy, I couldn’t keep up with Grace, I can’t beat her without my magic. That’s the point of it, I need to get stronger, I don’t want to rely on my magic. Grace knocked me on the ground and she point the sword towards my neck. She gave me a hand, “You’re getting stronger, Celeste. If you keep training like you always do, you might win against me without magic.”

“Thank you,” I replied with a blank expression. ” I think I CAN beat you if I use magic.”

She made a soft smirk on her face, suddenly, a knight appears in front of us.

“Princess Celeste, The King demands your presence.”

“All right,” I replied

“See you later, Celeste, I’m going to miss you.” Malene hugged me. My whole body stiffened. Why? We see each other every day. Still, I was baffled, I wish I could have avoided though. She let go then I glance over Grace and she nodded.

I followed the knight and he led me towards an entrance, behind it, there is a hall with the King sitting on a big golden throne on the front while the Queen is standing beside him.

“Leave us” the King declared. The knight began to leave, and the three of us remained.

I walked towards my father and took a glance at my mother. ” You demand to see me, father.”

“Yes, I wish to talk with you and your mother.” He responded.

The King stood up and we took a stroll through the gardens. We stop, then the both of them looks over me. Mother holds my hand.

“Celeste, we know that there is a lot of princes and nobles that wishes to marry you because of your elegance and talent.” My mother gazed at me with concern.

“But you opposed all of them.” My father finished.

“Why is it that if someone ask you to be your bride you spar with them? You don’t even give them a chance.” Mother told me.

“What she’s doing is right.” Father countered. “I don’t want her to have a partner that is weaker than her.” Father looked at me. “Celeste, you’re already 16 and at the right age. We want you to have a spouse.”

My jaw dropped because of what my father said.

“Me and your mother have planned to do this like what happened to us in the past.” He began to smile softly.

“You see when I was just a young man, a prince, I rescued your mother from a tower. The one who saves the princess from the tower will be her spouse. We intended to do the same to you.”