Pandora was not a fool. She was long gone by the time Devian and Persephone reached Delia who was sobbing in some guy's chest. The rush of anger hit Devian as he moved forward to see who the guy was but his feet stopped as soon as he spotted the person.

The other soul Pandora took.

It was Queen's first love, the King.

~*~

Coming from a family that considered her more like weapon and Queen rather than their own daughter, Jillian wanted love in her life. Someone who will love her for just being Jillian and nothing else. And she found that love with King.

When they got married, she was nervous and hated the idea of disrupting her whole life and marrying a man just for the sake of combining Kingdoms.

But King Harold stole her heart.

On their wedding night as Jillian sat almost shaking with anxiety, he came and sat down next to her.

"Do you want to take a walk?" He asked and she turned to look at him with surprise.

This was for the first time she was seeing the King and his beauty came as a shock. He had a beautiful shade of golden blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. There was dimple adorning his left cheek covered in light stubble. He was by far the second most handsome man she has ever seen with a beautiful smile.

The first was undeniably her strong-headed ever brooding friend and bodyguard, Devian.

As soon as she nodded, he carefully took her hand in his and warmth spread through her arms on his light touch.

"I will show you my garden under moonlight. " He said gently trying to make the new bride as comfortable as possible.

That stroll under the moon and talking about the little things that night was the start of their friendship and a romance Jillian never thought she will get in life.

He cared for her, treated her like a woman and not some source of weapon and power. He would spend hours talking to her and playing games when was free from his KIngly duties. They would often share legends and stories from their Kingdoms and went on quests to see how many of them were true.

As much as she hated the start of the marriage as an alliance she found love through it. 

Till the night of Pandora's attack as Jillian left her responsibilities as Light Queen and never worked for it, everything came crumbling down as reality hit her. She was living in paradise till her cowardice and reluctance to take on responsibility destroyed everything.

King was killed right in front of her eyes and everything within her shattered as the love of her life left her. She grasped to last hope to at least save the world she was always forced to do since she was a child and yet she couldn't, she was not powerful enough. Though she was born with the power and can battle Pandora, she couldn't hold her longer.

And that is when she realized, she failed, in love and in life as she saw the pain within her get transferred to her loyal bodyguard who never left her side and right now was paying the price for it.

~*~

The past was haunting Devian right now. His heart ached at the sight of Delia in King's arms and it was not kind of dull ache or feeling of sadness he had when the Queen was with the King, this was pure torture because in this life she was his.

And yet his feet wouldn't move to separate them.

Because in Queen's memories, she loved the King and not him.

This was Pandora's play right now? The petty act of torturing them till she hit them with a big blow and grew powerful hiding somewhere. He felt the darkness overcoming his mind as subconsciously the darkness started spreading through him.

"Remember Light Guardian, she is Delia, she is yours." Wendy came next to him and encouraged him.

But when he didn't speak, Wendy did him a favor, "Delia." She called out to catch their attention.

Delia broke the hug and as if in a trance looked at the face in front of her, as if she was not fully aware of her actions she jumped away from the man she was hugging a moment ago.

"I am so sorry, that was r-rude of me." She said realizing she was in a very weak state.

Her mind is not adjusted with memories of both lifetime and one is trying to overpower others to change the personality. Delia felt weird and took a careful step backward. 

"Delia," Devian called out this time his anger still evident in his voice with his darkened veins terrifying both Wendy and Persephone slightly.

She didn't even hesitate to run towards him but her feet stopped abruptly right in front of him.

"I am sorry." She said for hugging the man her past self loved.

It felt like she somehow betrayed the man she loved now.

At her words, the anger in Devian drained away and everyone witnessed the magic when the darkness left him immediately.

"Devian, I see you are still around guarding my Queen." King came forward dressed according to the time.

Delia noticed the tick of jaw on Devian and felt helpless as her brain ached with overwhelming thoughts and memories. She loved the King, those memories among the others were so vivid and clear and happy. But Delia tried her best to suppress them because for her they were bad, because of her Devian went through all the pain and darkness in him.

One thing Delia was sure of that no matter how fragile she was physically and no matter how authoritative Queen's mind was, her love for Devian won over anything. She loved more fiercely than the Queen did.

"Harold, he is someone I love." As soon as Delia said that sharp pain hit her head and made her wince.

"What's wrong?" Devian asked still recovering from the fact that Delia just declared his love for him.

Did she love him? Of course, she was affectionate and caring towards him, there was an attraction but to say boldly in front of the man your past self loved was a whole other matter. His heart swelled with joy he never felt before.'

"Memories. Too much." She said struggling with words and fell unconscious in Devian's arm.

Like Persephone said her mind was weak.

"You said you will help," Devian said in an accusatory tone to Persephone who was just a silent observer in all this.

But she had a faint smile on her face.

"I don't think I need to help." 

"What does that suppose to mean?" Devian asked furiously.

"Whatever happens she will fight it off."

"Have you seen her?" Wendy objected.

"Yes, she is strong mentally." And that was one thing they all agreed on.

"You still crave for her attention Devian, remember that she loves me." King almost threatened Devian.

"And now she loves me, didn't you hear her," Devian said with pride in his tone.

"She is just confused, she will soon realize."

"Keep telling yourself that Highness," Devian said uttering the royal address with mockery as he took away Delia in his arms.

~*~

"What happened?" Both Crocell and Paulo asked.

"King is back," Devian stated in a tired tone.

"Soul brought like this is not good Devian," Crocell said in a worried tone.

"I can handle him, don't worry."

"Pandora brought him for  a reason so you should better be on alert."

"I will protect her with my life." The words were out of his mouth even before Devian could think and realize that he had it in him to always protect her.

"Devian," Delia mumbled and all attention shifted to her.

They immediately realized that she was still asleep just mumbling in sleep with a lot of pain etched on her face. Her little palms were clutched in tight fist making her knuckles bloodless.

He walked to her immediately and sat down next to her holding on to her fist.

"Stop giving him pain." She muttered in sleep and tears escaped her closed eyes making his heart ache even more.

She was protecting him as she promised even in a dream or a nightmare whatever she was going through.

"Let's leave these two alone, their love life is tragic enough," Wendy said in a sympathetic tone while others agreed and left them.

For hours Devian sat there beside her gathering courage to tell her that he started all this with a plan of revenge and lie but now he loved her with all his heart. He hated when he saw her in Kings' arms or that he would anything to protect her but even thinking about this made him hopeless.

Will she forgive or will she hate him forever? She still wasn't strong enough to take the darkness in. What will happen to her if she decided to take in darkness and adversely affected by it?

Suddenly she slightly stirred in her sleep and woke up with a loud gasp, fear evident in her eyes.

She looked into Devian eyes and amazingly his presence brought her immediate relief. Without even thinking she got up on her knees and came closer to him.

"I am not letting you go and I never let you be in this much pain again." She said and cupping his cheeks in her soft small hands she pulled a surprised Devian for a fierce kiss from someone as shy as her.

Shocked for a moment, it took a minute for Devian to respond to the take.

She broke the kiss and looked closely into his eyes and Devian saw a new fire he had never seen before.

"Help me to become the Light Queen." She said.

"Why?" Devian whispered slightly in awe of her words.

"So that I can fight for what is mine." She stated clearly declaring that she was doing this to bring justice to all the pain Devian went through because of the Queen.

"Delia," He said feeling like this was the right moment because his senses were overwhelmed with feeling.

"yes?" She said her blue eyes widening adorably.

"I love you." And pulled her back for the kiss.

~*~*~*~

So his ultimate rival is here? What do you think will happen now? Any guesses, huh?

Delia saw something in her dream that makes her want to protect Devian. she is selfless un like the Queen. Who do you find more relatable or better? Queen who wanted a normal life or Delia who was too kind that it made her gullible?

Anyway, troubling is brewing my loves, get ready for it!

HAPPY WEEKEND Y'ALL!

NEXT UPDATE: WEDNESDAY