The Devil's Temptation!

110 Incomplete Grimoire

“We do?” Leasis raised a brow in an inquiring manner. He nodded before shifting his gaze to the many scrolls on the table.

“I think I’ve come across something like that among one of the grimoires, that’s why I found her pretty strange the first time I saw her.”

“What’s the name of the grimoire?” Asked Roshan, whose hopes had heightened a bit. Neil shuffled through the scrolls on the table, trying to see if he can fish out correctly which one it was, but strangely, that particular scroll wasn’t there.

“It’s not here.” He uttered as if confused himself. “Are these all the grimoires containing info that relate with birthmarks?” He diverted the question to Leasis and she nodded, feeling sure with herself.

“These are all I could find.”

Roshan ran his fingers through his hair as a tired sigh left his lips. He’s been here all morning and when luck decides to favor him, it gives him one-quarter of it.

“One grimoire is missing from here.” Neil quickly confirmed before moving away from the table and heading for the shelves. His eyes scheminly shifted from one shelf to the other and he barely moved from his spot.

All of a sudden, Roshan heard a light creak that came from one the shelves, then another one, followed by another and the more he heard it, the louder it became until a quick snap bolted through his eardrums and a scroll appeared from one of the shelves and the next thing, Neil was holding it.

“So you’re a library magician.” Roshan sarcastically concluded, leaving Leasis to snicker at his expression. He looked as though he wanted to beat Neil up for nearly ruining his sense of hearing.

.....

“Remind me to walk out next time before trying something like that again.” He rubbed his ear with a finger to stop the continuous ringing. That thing was irritatingly loud.

“Forgive me, I wasn’t aware of the fact you had sensitive ears.” He brought the scroll over to the table and placed it before Roshan.

“This should be it.”

“You’re sure this would give me the answers I need.”

“Hypothetically, yes.”

Roshan stared at the scroll in front of him, for some reason, he felt hesitant on opening it, as though he knew he wasn’t going to expect any cherry on the cake type of news but if he wanted to fulfill his promise, he’d have to do the needful.

Opening the scroll in front of him, there was a small drawing of a meteor at the top of it and below, some little poetry were written in unique languages which he understood, but for better understanding, he chose to read the translation itself and it went like this;

‘For a soul to be sealed by attestation, a rule had to be broken.

From the confines of the three realms,

a birthmark shall be given to those who violates the laws of rebirth by the heavens.

They shall bear a meteor mark as a sign of their punishment,

a sign that depicts their untimely rebirth and the consequences of this~’

Roshan suddenly paused, blinking at the scroll as if he had no idea what just happened and his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“It’s not complete.” He finally muttered after seeing the rest of the words beneath it were no longer visible.

“What?”

“It’s not complete.”

“Impossible.”

Neil took the scroll from him as if he didn’t believe him and as he terribly wished for Roshan’s words to be a lie, it wasn’t, the rest of the notes were gone.

“How is it.... possible?”

“Someone couldn’t have stolen the remaining notes, right?” Leasis critically questioned, leaving the three of them to exchange glances, all hoping they weren’t thinking the same thing.

After having a delightful supper with the Mayor and his family, Anna strode through the hallway, skipping lightly on her feet when the sight of a certain someone made her stop in her tracks.

The glacier was also heading her way as he stepped out of a corner with both hands in his pocket. On a normal basis, Anna wouldn’t hesitate to go to him, but today, she didn’t even dare to do that.

He wasn’t looking at her as he strode by and Anna quickly finalized with a depressed heart that he still wasn’t going to talk to her.

They brushed past each other after barely coming in sight, but Roshan suddenly did something Anna didn’t expect he’d do.

He stuck out his arm from his jacket pocket and unceremoniously grabbed her wrist, dragging the baffled Anna along with him as he made her turn to follow his lead.

“Ah! What are you doing?” She broke the silence as he made her follow him, his grip gradually tightening against her wrist and he refused to let go.

“Let me go, leave me alone!” She tried to free her wrist from his grip, but could barely open his hands that were like claws against her poor wrist.

“Stop! Let me go!”

Instead of listening, his grasp slowly loosened and when Anna wanted to use the opportunity to free her hand, he held her palm, quickly locking their fingers together and that made her heart miss a beat.

“Roshan!”

“We need to talk.” His tone was strangely pleasant, but Anna didn’t let herself get deceived by it because she knew deep down that he wanted to scold her for something.

“But I don’t want to talk to you.” She tried biting his hand so he could let go of her but he only hissed at the quick sting and refused to let go, still.

“You need to bite harder than that if you want that tiny temper of yours to affect me.”

“Stop forcing me.”

He finally let go and she freed her arm, he turned to look at her and she took a step back, pointing a warning finger at him.

“I told you already, I have nothing to talk with you about.”

“Of course, you’ve got a new partner now so it’s not actually surprising that you’d want to talk to me, which is why I have to force you.”

“Why? I thought you were upset with me?”

“I still am.” He clarified, “but this is something that concerns you so be a good girl and come with me.”

“You can’t_”

“Shhhh.” He placed a finger to his lips, gesturing for the stubborn lady to keep quiet. His inexpressible gaze turned serious as he took a dominant step towards her.

“Either you do as I say, or continue to be the troublemaker that you are and get kissed in this spot, in the open, where people can see us. You wouldn’t want us to be exposed so soon, am I right?”

He raised a pretty brow, as if daring her to go against him and Anna’s hands balled into a tight fist at her side. Was he seriously blackmailing her??

She gritted her teeth to keep her self-control in check because one slip, and she might end up slapping the demon in the face.

The glacier tilted his head at her, obviously aware of her thoughts and as much as he derived joy in seeing her so compelled to remain quiet, there was something more serious that he had to deal with.

“Good girl.” His hand found hers and when he intimately interlaced their fingers, Anna couldn’t keep her angry demeanor in place as it dropped from her face like a cast-off cloak, feeling the comforting warmth of his palm against hers.

His lips secretly curled to the side as he looked away from her, a bit pleased by her reaction and he took her away.