What’s the loophole?

In the courtroom. Lilith was sitting on her throne. She was lost in deep thought when someone came in.

The temperature in the hell was fluctuating. The demons were living in fear. Because of the empress's mood swings, no one knew who would die next.

"Greeting my empress." A demon named Kornon bowed in front of her. "I have a news from the earth."

"Is it a good news or bad?" She said with an anxious tone. Nowadays she can't even work properly. She is always disturb about something.

"Uhh. I don't know if it's good or bad. But it's about his highness Ezen."

"My son? What about him?" Lilith took a sip of blood from her golden glass. She was more anxious than before.

"He got into his body again." The demon's mouth stutter. He didn't how the empress going to react now. "He married that human girl."

When she heard this, Lilith smashed the glass on the ground. "I knew he would do this." Her eyes looked sad. "This is why I never took him out from that forbidden forest. I knew if he met that girl then he will… Uggh!" She broke all of the things which was present in the room.

She was happy at first that her son got his powers back. But the happiness didn't lasted longer when she realised what is going to happen next.

"In the human world, is current date 26 June?" Lilith asked while hoping it was not true.

"Yeah empress." Kornon answered.

"Sh*t!" Lilith bited her lip in anger. "I can't let god win. His prophecy will never come true."

She shook her head in determination. If anyone came between her revenge. They have to die. "We don't have time. Go tell Larissa and Julian that they have to kill that girl." She ordered. "If anyone came in between, kill them too."

Then demon was scared but still he dared to question her. "What if Ezen saved her again?"

Lilith closed her eyes and spoke while hesitating. "Then kill him too." She is his mother, but before that she was a queen. She can't let her emotion come in between. "I can deal with loss of my son. But I can't loose my throne. Hell is mine! I will never let it get destroyed."

***

In the forbidden forest, Ezen's hunger was at peak.

Right after he entered his body, he couldn't control his blood lust.

When he got the chance, he pounced on a wolf and feasted on him until his hunger stopped.

There were no humans around him, so eating animals was the best choice.

While he was busy drinking blood, a big raven came flying towards him and sat on his shoulder. There was an envelope in his mouth. He wanted to give him a message from the underworld.

Ezen wiped the blood from his mouth and snatched the envelope from the raven's mouth. "Now who is it?" He asked. His eyes glowed yellow as he noticed the royal stamp on the envelope.

"The empress told me to give it to you." Sam replied. "She said, now that you are back into your body. You should focus on your work and do your duty." He said while remembering what Lilith told him to say. "And yeah, she also said that you should avoid getting distracted by anyone."

"That's it? She didn't say anything else?" As he knows his mother. She might have definitely got the news about the marriage. How did she not ask him about it? Is she not mad?

"I don't know but I heard her talking with Kornon before. She was saying, if anyone came between her revenge. She will kill him. She won't budge even if it is you in front of her."

"Why would I come between her revenge? What will I get by doing that?" Lilith has always been revengeful person. When she hates someone, she will make sure the person will die a horrible death. He knew it from the start. But he don't understand one thing, why is Lilith seeing him as an obstacle?

"No. It's not that." Sam flew and sat on the ground to talk face to face." "Remember you saved that girl before. The empress is scared that you will save her again and ruin her revenge planning."

"What revenge? She wants revenge from Anastasia? What did she do to offend mom?" Ezen was finding it hard to believe. Anastasia is just a girl with powers. There are many people like this in the world. Then why only her? What is Lilith scared of.

"I heard her saying something about today being 26 June." That time Lilith looked tense. "Maybe it has something to do with it."

26 June? It's today's date. Why was Lilith tense about it? What does this day mean?

***

"So it's 26 June finally." Agnes sighed relief and handed coffee to Victor. "From now fate will stop working in his favour."

"I guess It's good for us." Victor held the cup in his hand while thinking something. "Do you think Ezen got back into his body?"

"I heard Adrian is back in the village." Agnes sipped her coffee. "If he is alive, that means… yes. He got into his original body again." She lowered her voice. "We have to be more careful."

"I don't think so." Victor smiled. "What is he going to do? Kill me? I wish he could." He can't believe that Anastasia agreed to get married to Ezen. He thought she would not agree but he was wrong. No one change fate.

Agnes glanced at Cassandra who didn't touched her coffee yet. "What happened dear? Why are you looking lost?" She asked.

Cassandra who was lost in her thoughts, decided to speak up. "Why are you guys looking so chill? Are you guys not worried about Anastasia? I heard Lilith is plotting something against her. Why are we not doing anything?"

"Ask your mother why we are not doing anything." Victor replied. Agnes warned him to not tell Anastasia anything before specific timing. So even if he wants to help, he can't. He is not even allowed to meet her.

"Oh please Victor. I was just following orders from the upper realm." As per the prophecy, the incidents which happened before this date was already planned. If Victor would have came in between, Everything would have been in chaos. That's why she told him to stay away from Anastasia. She didn't wanted the old rivalry between Ezen and Victor to start again.

"You know. I promised mimi that I would protect Anastasia." He looked down sadly. "But I was so lost in myself that I couldn't do anything for her."

"You can do it now." Agnes consoled him. "As I said, today is 26 June. From now on everyone can live with free will. Destiny will not matter anymore."

Victor stopped when he heard it. "Does that mean… Should I tell her the truth?"

"Depends on you. Tell her when you think it's the right time."

Victor nodded. "I think I know what to do."

"But i don't." Cassandra didn't understand what they were talking about. "Shouldn't we first find a way to end Julian and Larissa? They are the main threats now."

"Julian and Larissa as a threat?" Agnes chuckled. "They are nothing but pawns. If you want to focus on threats. Find a way to end Ezen first."

"Oh mom! Don't give me a headache. We tried to get rid of him before but look what we got." It's Ezen. He will only die when he wants. Only he can kill himself. Cassandra didn't wanted to deal with him again. As far she knows, she thinks he will leave Anastasia. After all, he got what he wanted from her.

"What do you think? Will he leave her?" She said while looking at Victor.

"He is unpredictable. So we can't say for sure." He thought about it and smiled. "I don't know what he will do but… I don't think he will ever harm her."

Agnes opened her mouth in shock. Victor was saying this? "Oh really? Don't you know what he did with your family? You are trusting him?"

"I am not trusting him. Forgetting what happened in the past, I don't think he will harm Anastasia. I don't think he is main threat now." Ezen is type of person who will never attack first, unless provoked. They had to be more cautious around him. That's it. "Like Cassandra said, right now we need to focus on Julian and Larissa. Lilith is controlling them. They won't stay calm."

"Exactly! Thank you." That's what she was trying to say from the start. "So tell me fast. Is there a way to end julian and Larissa's immortal life?" Cassandra asked.

"There is a loophole." When he said this, he noticed everyone else's faces looking confused. "Don't tell me you guys didn't know about this. Am I the only one doing research?"

Agnes shook her head. Even she didn't know about this.

"Yeah." Cassandra got curious. "Now tell us, what is the loophole?"

"It's…" Victor tried to create suspense. "Dahlia."

***

"When is Ezen coming?" Anastasia started to get bored. She changed back into her normal clothes and was waiting for him. She was really excited to see his original face.

"Calm down missy. He will come." Equinox handed her a glass of juice.

"I don't understand." Anastasia took sip of the juice. "It's fake marriage. So… we don't have to do the after marriage thing. Right?"

"Ohh! Do you mean honeymoon?" Equinox teased. "Well, it depends on both of you. What do you say? Should I book tickets for it? Maldives sounds nice. Right?"

Anastasia became embarrassed. She didn't meant that. "I meant divorce procedure."

Seeing her shy, Equinox chuckled. "Oh my god. I could never guess." She drank all the juice and kept in on the table. She quickly remembered something afterwards . "Wait! I forgot to give you something."

Equinox quickly opened her drawer and handed her something. It was a box.

"What is it?" Anastasia was surprised.

"It's a memory box. Morana told me to give you this."

"But it's not opening." She tried to open it many times, but it was stuck together.

"Wait a second!" Equinox took the box in her hand and noticed a lock in it. "It needs a key."

"Key? I don't have any key."

"But… Morana told me to give you this. Are you not the owner? Try to remember. Have you ever made this thing in your past?"

"Not at all." It was first time she was seeing this box. She don't even know what it is used for.

Equinox sighed. She remembered Morana saying that this box will not only help Anastasia. It will help her too. Who knows who owns this box?

"Don't worry. Let Ezen come. He has lots of keys. Maybe some of them can work on this box."

Anastasia nodded and looked around. Her powers were fully in her control, she could feel a dark mana around her surroundings coming towards them. "I think someone is coming."

Equinox started to feel it too. "Who could it be?"

Soon they heard the door bell ring.

A maid quickly ran to open the door.

When the door opened, they found who it was just by the person's voice.

"Equinox! You bitch come down fast."

Hearing this curse words from downstairs, they could guess who it was.

Both of them looked at each other and answered at same time. "Succubi!?"