She Belongs To The Devil

Chapter 782 A Stray Cat

"Ariel!" Theodore instantly flew towards his daughter and wrapped her in his arms as if he was seeing her after ages.

Ariel was a little surprised by her father's reaction. However, she always knew how protective her father was of her. And she understood that the fact that he couldn't come after her might have taken a toll on him, especially considering the estranged relationship between her father and her grandfather.

"Are you alright?" Theodore asked her after pulling away from the hug and darting his eyes up and down his daughter's body to look for anything out of the ordinary – any marks, symbols, anything that indicated that his father had done something to her.

Ariel gave a wide grin to her father and replied, "Why wouldn't I be okay? I was with grandpa. I don't think he would have let Uncle Michael do anything to me when I was with him."

That was obviously not what Theodore was worried about at the moment. He wanted to say how her grandfather wasn't the one to be fully trusted, but he resisted saying that since Ariel looked somewhat happy to have met him.

He simply caressed his daughter's hair, happy that she was back, and relieved that his father didn't seem to have put any kind of spell on his daughter.

"Let's go home, dad," Ariel asked Theodore while tugging his sleeve. "Grandpa said that he already punished uncle for what he did to me. And he asked me not to worry about my uncle attacking me again. He said that he would look after me instead of grandma…"

"Instead of grandma?" Theodore raised his brows at Ariel and questioned, "She's not there? In the Heaven realm?"

Ariel turned to look at her aunt who was standing quietly beside her until now. She didn't know if her father would take the news well.

Irene, in turn, turned her gaze at Theodore. She was also aware of what happened to their mother. So, she made her brother aware of the same, "Father told me that he had a disagreement with our mother. And because of that, she scattered herself."

Theodore closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. He then mumbled, "That old man cannot even keep his wife happy. Just how much of a disappointment could he have been for our mother to take that step?"

He opened his eyes to look at the sky, and he asked again, "Did he at least know when mother would be back?"

"Um…" Ariel cleared her throat and replied, "Grandpa was saying that he had already taken the necessary steps to resolve the issue with grandma. He said that she should be back soon."

Theodore was at least glad to hear that. He gave a nod to his daughter and then turned around with the intention to get back to where his wife was. Earlier, he had asked Adeline to wait by the abandoned house, in case Ariel teleported there.

By now, though he hadn't forgiven Michael, his anger had been taken over by fear of something happening to Ariel, and he didn't want to get revenge anymore. Now that he thought with his relatively clear head, he realized that he would only be provoking Michael further if he did anything to him. Michael now had nothing to lose, but he had everything to lose.

"Let's go back to your mother," he said to Ariel while looking over his shoulder and his massive wings.

Ariel asked her father, "Where is she?"

"She's back in the place where we were sitting down earlier."

All three of them then teleported to that same abandoned building in a matter of a few seconds.

Upon seeing Ariel, Adeline's reaction was the same as Theodore's. She flung herself forward and pulled Ariel in her arms. "Oh my baby, are you okay?"

"I am. There's no need to worry, mom," Ariel said while wrapping her arms around her mother. Your journey continues at empire

Ariel then recounted what had happened during the time she was there in the Heaven realm with her grandfather.

All three of the adults listened to her as she narrated the conversation between her and God, word-by-word. They were all relieved to hear that God hadn't explicitly said anything to Ariel and tried to force her into staying there.

After the conversation was over, Adeline pointed at the white cat that was sitting behind Ariel's chair and asked, "By the way, I had been meaning to ask, why did the three of you bring that cat?"

"Cat? What cat?" Ariel tilted to the side and looked down.

"I saw it teleport here with the three of you," Adeline added.

When her gaze met with that of the cat, Ariel could swear that she saw it rolling its eyes at her and then looking away while giving off an attitude.

She answered her mother while still looking at that cat, "I wasn't the one to bring it here." She then straightened herself and looked at her father. "Were you the one to bring it?"

Theodore scoffed at that stupid question of his daughter and sarcastically said, "If only I could find a cat tree in the sky and pluck the ripe one."

Ariel's gaze involuntarily shifted to Irene.

And Irene simply shrugged, gesturing that she wasn't the one to bring it either.

So, she looked at her mother and said, "I think you saw it wrong, mom. Maybe it was already here when we teleported back, or maybe it's a stray that walked in here at the exact time as we appeared."

"Ugh! Why the hell are we even talking about some cat?" Theodore sighed and got up. "I think we should head home now." He looked at Irene and then apologized, "Irene, I think we will have to part ways for today. I cannot invite you to our Palace until mother decides to come back."

Irene also got up on her feet and gave a nod to Theodore. "It's okay, brother. I understand. Until then, I will keep your invitation on hold."

"Yes, you do that." Theodore gave a warm hug to his sister and thanked her, "And I really appreciate your help earlier. Also, sorry if I shouted at you in my restlessness."

"No, it's alright." Irene was just happy that he could be of some help to Theodore.

Adeline came up to Irene and appreciatively said while holding the latter's palms, "I am really happy to have met you, Irene. I am hoping that you will visit us soon in the future."

"I will." Irene gave a hug to Adeline and said, "I would love to hear more about you all." She then focused her attention on Ariel.

She was surprised to see the cat standing on Ariel's lap while resting its front legs on her chest. It was purring and rubbing its head on Ariel's chin, and Ariel was scratching its back.

Irene smiled and said to Ariel, "It looks like someone's taken a liking to that cat. You're taking it home with you?"

Ariel had never given a thought about owning any pet of her own. So she quickly put that cat down and denied, "No, I was just–"

The cat suddenly stood on its hind legs and then shouted in a man's voice, "Really, Ariel? I did all those tricks that a cat would do and you are still not taking me home?"

"What the–"