Beneath The Beast: The Devil's Bride

Chapter One: "I shall come to asses what's mine"

Chapter 1: "I shall come to asses what's mine"

A day in the Orsbont palace could be described differently depending on the individual that dwelled in it. For royal servants, hell was the appropriate term for the ridicule and disrespect they endured in the house. The king, who had succeeded a very noble man of scruples, was an unbearable prick and had every person that was not his wife or daughter sitting on cactus thorns.

 It had only been seven years since he miraculously overthrew king Author and deemed his heir unfit for leadership. For unknowing souls, it was a phenomenon that could not be deciphered, but to those who knew, a big price was paid by Orsbont for him to be gloriously turning side to side on the comfortable throne.

He was once the adoptive son of Author's father and the two had seemingly been getting along till an attempt to kill the blood prince was made and he was banished. His thirst for the prestige of ruling the country never subsidised and news of the great king's passing and his succession by Author had him ablaze, fuming with jealousy.

In the most desperate attempts to get the throne, Orsbont signed a contact with the most disreputable, deceitful and nefarious beings known to mankind.

His little princess Lorraine was yet to face the consequences of her father's perpetration. She was to be given her away to the king of hell when she turned 18 and in turn he would place her father on the throne and make his reign a long, prosperous one.

Lorraine was only ten at the time and as much as her father adored her, greed had pushed him into the claws of temptations and he eventually gave in. To ease his guilt he had assured himself that Lorraine would enjoy being a princess after facing long years of hardships. William had not been the luckiest of men when it came to the size of his bank balance. Many times finding the next meal of the day was a struggle and his wife constantly complained, challenging his manliness and abilities as a provider.

And that was the reason he felt he was doing his family a favor, they would be moving from worrying about every meal of the day to having everything handed to them on a silver platter and knowing that his daughter would be content and stress-free meant much to him.

One may wonder why it was so easy for him to just sell her soul, to the devil at that, if he loved her so much. Well, it was easy. King Orsbont was promised her return when she turned 20, having bore her appointed spouse an heir and fulfilled her duties as his mother till he was independent.

Two years was not a very long time, and with the riches he would be earning from being the head of state, he would offer Lorraine all she wanted when she returned, in hopes of her forgiving him.

And so she got the life she'd been praying for during all her years of suffering, Lorraine moved from being a contemptibly poor girl in a community school to being the Princess of her country. It was a huge transition, one to not be taken advantage of.

 But because good things usually don't last, the shock and disbelief of moving from worrying about every meal of the day to having everything handed to you on a silver platter soon disappeared and in its place stood ungratefulness and conceitedness by the royal couple. Servants were often bashed on every task they were given, allowed no respect or shown mere appreciation. They were all peasants as far as they were concerned, deserving of no praise for even a job well done.

Lorraine however maintained her humble nature and was liked by the royal servants. Her personal assistant Mara, had become her closest friend in the palace and was a trusted keeper of all her secrets. Sometimes Lorraine would pour her heart out and tell how much she hated being a princess because of all the restrictions it came with. She barely had friends, let alone any contact with the opposite gender. An experience she truly yearned for.

Multiple times Lorraine had questioned her father on why she was not allowed to have a prince as a boyfriend like most of her royal friends and the answer she got never changed, one he'd been declaiming for the past seven years before she could even inquire about her love life.

She was told that unlike many princesses, she was unique, special enough to have a very powerful king awaiting her to be make her his bride. That whatever prince charming she'd been shaping during her oneiric journeys was rendered nothing but what he was, a mere dream.

So like the innocent girl she was, she did not wish to defy her father's word and had to wait till the mentioned king would marry her so she could finally indulge in the compassion and security that came with being in a relationship.

 She didn't have a long wait ahead for her 18th birthday was very close, 6 days to be exact. She did not know what fate planned for her that day but her father was slowly getting more and more distraught as the days passed.

Soon he'd  bid his daughter farewell and her safety would be a mystery to him.

What spiked his anxiety more was how his wife was in the dark about the situation. It had been seven years, 2 557 days that William had the opportunity to inform his wife that he had traded their daughter for royalty and riches. But of course it was not easy, no mother would be ecstatic knowing that her only daughter, only child, was to escape her arms and fall onto the devil's lap.

For that reason, Brittany believed that the king had organized the 5 day celebration for her birthday because he'd always been a loving father to Lorraine, and that was what a good father who cared about his child's happiness would do.

Sure he did adore his princess, but that was far from the truth. William was well aware that Lorraine would be captured from home the second she stopped being 18, therefore he had to make sure Lorraine remembered him for the good father he believed he was by making sure she got everything she wanted during her last days in the palace.

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"So who do you want to invite Princess, it's your day and you're allowed to have any of your friends  come over" William spoke to Lorraine with a wide smile, trying to show how genuine he was about his statement. "Just give me all their names and addresses and I'll instruct one of the workers to send out the invitations." He added, making Lorraine fidget with the buttons of her dress as she sat on her bed.

She did have a desire that she knew William would be unhappy about, but he did say she could bring anyone over and denying her request would be going back on his promise.

"Uhmm.. you know my friends daddy. I need Amber and Riley to be here" her eyes did not look up at the king as she talked and he sensed her nervousness.

"Is that all sweetheart? Is there something you're not telling me? You do want the party, don't you, or is it a little too dramatic for you?" William inquired, worried about her uncomfortable demeanour.

She continued to fidget with the fabric of her dress till she finally got the courage to look at her father in the eyes.

"Promise me you won't be mad daddy, I have to tell you something" she pleaded.

Worry settled in his stomach before he could give her a response. "You know I'd never get angry at you, my sweet little princess, you can tell me anything."

Lorraine took a few deep breaths before she continued with what she intended to say.

" first of all I want to say thank you for the party, I'm very excited to spend time with my best friends. But dad, you know I'm turning 18 and that means I'm an adult now and I should be allowed to do things that maybe I wasn't allowed to do when I was still a child." She paused making her father wait on her.

"So I want to ask you now dad, can Amber's brother come over? We've been talking on the app and he is a very nice, respectable guy. I already told him about my party and he's excited to meet me." Her head bowed and her eyes stayed glued to her knees as she slowly and nervously asked her father to bring a boy into the house. It's not like he was just any guy that had no promising future. Benjamin was the prince of a nearby kingdom and her friend Amber had suggested that they start talking after Lorriane had told her about her desire to get some form of male attention. So with the status the well known prince had, she could just hope that her father would be okay with her request.

After a long pause on her father's side, Lorriane finally fought with her anxiety and looked up to where he was. His face had changed from its excited tone to more of a thoughtful grimace. William was well aware that he had to keep Lorraine clean from any male touch, failing which, he'd suffer some undesirable consequences.

"No Lorraine, I'm sorry. You cannot invite that boy over. You shouldn't be talking to him in the first place. I already told you that you are a special princess and the king that's waiting for you would not be pleased to know that a boy has his eyes on his bride." He tried much to not look angry and disappoint his daughter but it was no use. Each word stabbed her heart like a sharp knife and she had to fight to keep the tears in as she just looked at her thighs.

"It's okay dad, I understand." Her voice sounded a bit cracked, alerting the king because he knew his attempt to sound less disapproving had failed.

" I want to sleep now dad, it's been a tiresome day and Mara told me I need to go fit my dresses for the party. Thank you daddy. Good night." She quickly turned her back on William, laying on her bed before he had the opportunity to apologize to her.

Realizing there was nothing more to say to make her less discontent, William headed out the door and simply instructed her personal assistant to help prepare her for sleep.

Guilt kept consuming him as he sat by himself in his office, it broke his heart to hear her voice c***k, and now he couldn't help but wonder how her innocent soul would survive an arrogant, selfish devil. He quickly shook the thought away because dwelling on it for longer meant increasing his level of guilt.

The office door flew open, and without having knocked, Ragus, Lorriane's body guard entered in his usual black suit. He was the only new member in the palace staff and in his hand he held a note.

The sight was unsettling for William. He had expected the devil to contact him in the past days and finally seeing his letter made his nerves peak.

"You could at least knock you know, I'm still the king and nobody should witness such disrespect in this house." William demanded but his companion just deviously smiled and followed the smirk with an almost inaudible laugh. He extended his arm to William's reach so he could grab the piece of paper before delighting him with an answer.

"How amusing are you Orsbont! Quite the dreamer! Listen here, in this house you are the king to all those servants but I do not take orders from you, let alone bow down to such a  greedy little peasant, a sell out of a father." His eyes raked his body from the top of his head to the end of his torso which was visible before the desk cut off his legs from sight.

William knew better than to argue with a devil-sent. He was only mortal and he did not want to find out what powers a demon had over him, so he just took the letter from his hand without any retorts.

His guest immediately headed out of the office, leaving him to read the note. Like all notes that he had received from the king of hell, it was short and straight to the point. His hand trembled and his heart sank as he started to read the words.

'I shall come to assess what rightfully belongs to me tonight. Make sure she is alone and undisturbed. The arrangement is not only for today, I shall pay her a visit each day till I finally take her.'

William took a big swallow before shredding the note and tossing it into his bin.

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