Sophie's fuse was right about to blow. Her lithe hands shook as she gripped the corner of the pantry door and looked over the edge. Glowing green eyes zeroed in on every movement of the long, elongated shadow wandering the living room floors. The sound of energetic humming, ranging from pitches so high it sounded like bird to ones so deep it sounded like a dragon's snoring, began to pulling goosebumps up on her skin.

  Perhaps it was really only a nursery rhyme but you would have to take in consideration just who was currently pacing all over looking for her and humming that very nursery rhyme. To have an unidentified 2.5 meter tall creature searching for you, looking to do your every bidding was to be frank terrifying. Terrifying enough that it urged the experienced witch to bolt and hide once she even caught sight of the 'creature's coat tails. 

Despite Sophie's clear wariness of the creature, evident in the way she trembled at it's mere voice; Rafal was nothing less than the image on nonchalance. As soon as the tall man turned the corner Sophie was hiding in, she had gripped onto the collar of his turtle neck and dragged him into the shadows of the hiding spot. A shriek of surprise escaped his lips, the popsicle he was sucking on has now been thrown ungraciously onto the floor. Feeling lightheaded from the grip Sophie placed upon his neck, he pawed at her hands incessantly until she released him with a loud 'shush'. Gasping for breath and honestly perspiring a little too hard, he turned to her. "What the hell, Soph?" 

"Shut up for a minute." He raised his eyebrow and twisted his face into one of confusion. "What? Why?" Sophie glared at him icily with a 'duh' look on her face. "What if he hears us? I don't want him-. It, finding us." Thoughts spun in Rafal's head as he began to try and process what his girlfriend had just said. 

"It?" 

"Yes! It!" 

It was like a lightbulb lit the dark, dim and dusty room that was Rafal's conscious mind as he made sense of the situation. "Oh, you mean Furno," Rafal exclaimed with an 'ahh' tone to his voice. "Furn- Yeah, whatever it's called." With a sigh Rafal petted Sophie's back with slow calming strokes and chuckled quietly at her antics. "Do you find him unnerving?," he asked, humorously to which Sophie replied with a ticked off tone. "And you don't?" Rafal shrugged his shoulders lightly. "No, not really." 

Sophie looked absolutely perplexed at the statement. 

"What? Why the hell not? He's like a giant, walking torch!" 

Rafal, again, shrugged. 

"Well, he is a servant demon. I suppose that's how they're supposed to look like." 

Sophie's eyes turned blank for a second as she muttered, "what is a servant demon?" Rafal smiled endearingly at her, he didn't wish to make her feel inferior besides she seemed genuinely threatened by their new 'butler's' presence. "Like a demon, who in turn, is indebted to a human instead of the other way around." 

"I am not indebted to Master Jalette in any way," a sleazy voice added, sounding very indignant. "And yet you call her Master." "That's simply formalities." Rafal squinted challengingly up at the creature. "Yeah? Then try and say Jalette." When the creature hesitated and twitched unconfidently, Rafal smirked and relished in his victory. "You can't, can you?" 

Sophie gripped his sleeves, her message clear. 'Why are you challenging, the demon?,' the look in her eyes basically screamed. Rafal reassured her calmly with a soft kiss to the forehead. "So, what do you owe your Master? Did she save you? Tricked you?" Furno grunted and huffed, seemingly vexed; offended he would even dare to even suggest such a thing. "I chose to serve under her and so did Bothe." Now, that was a surprise. 

A demon, even if he was a servant demon, willingly serving under a self-chosen master was very, very, very uncommon sight. "Bothe is an archdemon himself, so I guess I serve under him too." An archedemon serving under a self-chosen master is an even rarer sight. "Must be a quite a witch she is. How charming she must be." Sophie wrinkled her nose at that, Jalette has got to be one of the crudest people she had ever met and Sophie had met a lot of crude and crass people in her lifetime. And truth be told, the new Evil School Master seems to a person closer to the blunt end of the personality spectrum. "Of course she is!," Furno insisted, folding his arms across his chest. 'How foolish,' Sophie thought. "What are you, a squire boy?," Rafal snorted mockingly. 

That didn't seem to deter Furno and Rafal was now starting to figure out that this demon truly did not care for his own pride, only of his master it seemed. The trio had now slowly moved towards the living room and now were sitting together, across from each other on the soft cushions of the velvet couches set out before the hearth. The house seemed to be surrounded in enternal winter, a curse perhaps, and so the fireplace was constantly burning in the room. "So, are you really a servant demon? Or are you actually something else?" Lightly picking at his skin, Furno slumped further into the seat. 

The situation had seemed to fall into a rather casual conversation and even Sophie seemed to be rather interested in hearing what the demon had to say. "I am a son of Beelzebub," Furno said nonchalantly. "A demon of gluttony?," Rafal inquired. "Correct. And if you were curious Bothe is a son of Leviathan and Lucifer. Quite literally." Rafal himself would shudder in fear at the thought of being around a direct descendant of Leviathan and Lucifer, the implication that such a being existing in itself is mortifying. 

"Right, and he serves under a young magician like the new School Master?," Rafal confirmed, seemingly absolutely baffled. "Right," Furno confirmed it to him nonchalantly. "Hey, don't underestimate me either. Remember, Bothe and I willingly work under her ok?," the demon added, emphasising the word willingly. "Of course, of course," Rafal replied. 

Just who exactly was this School Master?

And far away from that place said School Master had been sneezing profusely for the past 30 minutes, so much so that she had to retire from her work early in the day. Red swam in front of her eyes as she laid upon her bed, staring longingly at her ceiling. A familiar itchiness crawled up her nose as she sat up in the bed and threw the wet towel from her forehead to the adjacent wall. "Argh, someone must be talking crap about me!," her voice hoarse and unstable from her ( allergies ) rage. "Bothe! Bothe, come back here! I'm fine!" As she screamed for the man's presence, the floors of her room began to rattle from the heavy force of footprints stomping off of it. 

"Yes, mistress! What is it do you need?," the aforementioned demon stated as he nearly threw the door of its hinges as he entered. "Seriously Bothe, I'm fine. Won't you just give me my wor-?" Jalette paused in shock as she took in Bothe's panting figure from the doorway. The tall man had ditched his normal butler suit and instead opted for a crisp and pristine Gibson blouse paired with some high waisted dress pants that hugged the figure of his long legs. The blouse seemed to have come undone and peeking through the soft frilly folds were pale smooth skin the colour of pure milk, flushed pink; presumably from his running. The golden buttons and  embellishments on his pants glimmered under the sunlight dripping through the nearby window curtains. 

Even more surprising were the golden eye glasses perched on his nose and the fact that he was barefoot. Although a charming sight it was an odd one. "You, who dressed you this morning?," the School Master, peered at him curiously; gaze sharp and observant. The man fiddled with the braid of his hair, averting his gaze to the floor. "Did I wake you?," he asked politely, trying and failing at changing the subject. "What a silly question," Jalette replied with a soft laugh. "Did I sound angry? I'm sorry, Bothe. I am just curious." 

"Hmm, I dressed myself," he demon replied with a soft mumbling tone. "Oh, how wonderful," Jalette responded with glee. The demon gripped his horns out of his nervous habit. The soft, ridge textures helped to soothe his pounding heart and the firm material under his fingers felt reassuring.  He breathed a sigh of relief but it never quite made it through his airways, his chest had tightened suddenly at the realisation. His horns! Had he been in such a rush, his horns had come out in the process as he unleashed his wings to fly up to the tower? The answer was yes. Bothe was indeed standing there with his large, glossy black horns curled around his head and his large monochrome wings on display. 

Jalette hummed softly to get his attention. "Oh, how intriguing." 

She raised the puffy sleeves of her night gown at him indicating him to come closer. "May I touch them? It has been so long since I've even seen them," she whispered softly at him, a longing look in her eyes. Bothe gulped. "My apologies, Prin-. Mistress," Bothe responded as he made his way to her bedside in long, quick strides. The light her soft and warm smile gave off, warmed and nurtured at his heart strings. Her small, small hands glided over them gently, from his horns to the thin skin on his wings; she looked up at him once in a while with an entranced look in her eyes. She hadn't even scolded his for his earlier slip up. 

Bothe leaned into her touch gradually until he was nothing less than sprawled across her blanketed lap. Soft fingers danced around in his hair and the bliss he felt was unreal. "I will never begin to understand how you were destined to be the evil one," he practically purred as Jalette brushed lithe fingers upon his jawline. She chuckled soberly. "Good. I would never want you to find out." Bothe found himself unknowingly grazing his own fingers upon the cuts on her arms and hands, the tan contrast against her skin made something within him boil with seething rage. "It is also ironic how your brother had become the Prince of Good. How ridiculous," Bothe huffed as he turned in Jalette's lap. 

The School Master's weary eyes smiled down at him as she giggled, a soft tinkling sound like bells on a cool, windy day. "Are you sulking, my dear?," she crooned as she stroked the back of his neck lovingly. "I am upset, this arrangement is cruel to you," Bothe confessed, his shoulders deflating a small amount. "No, it is not. It is merely unkind." The demon turned to her, eyes scrutinising her face for any indications that her words of comfort had truly been for comfort and not some sort of facade to hide her own uneasiness. When he found no indications of his fears he turned to her again with a sigh on his lips. 

"You are too easygoing." 

"As should a princess." 

"But you are no longer a princess." 

"I suppose." 

Author's Note

Am I late or am I late? Hahahaa, I hope there were people actually looking forward to this. Sorry, if I disappointed you with this one. But I'm just going to drop some light chapters in here while I figure the main plot line so bear with me. Ah, if you didn't notice Bothe and Jalette holds some semblance of a more than platonic relationship, in case anyone was wondering. I just used this chapter to tease at some plot points and explain what Bothe and Furno's role actually was. Perhaps I didn't do it very well? Hahaha. But that's all for now. Look forward to the next one. 

-kakuke-