Aziel stared at her calmly for a minute before letting her go. "Come with me." He told her and started walking downstairs.
"What just happened?" Lily whispered to no one in particular. She looked in the direction of his room. There were only a few steps left, but now she has to go back down. Reluctantly, she began going down the stairs.
"W-where are we going?" She stuttered, making sure she was exactly two steps away from Aziel. When he asked if she was curious about the cursed prince, she found that as an opportunity to see if he would react terribly to her taunts. But now all she got was mixed feelings.
She had thought his fangs would pop out and pierce into her neck, but they didn't. He only warned her and let her go immediately. Then again, he got angry at her for rightfully throwing shades at the cursed prince. No one except the cursed prince will feel angry at the fact that he was all she mentioned.
Lily was even more confused, but she decided to tread carefully whenever she was with him.
"I'm hungry," Aziel replied and kept walking in a familiar direction. Lily furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember when she passed this place before.
Aziel took a turn into a dark underground passage with fire torchlights hung on both sides of the wall. That was when it hit her. They were going to the dungeon.
Lily paused in her steps and the docile face she always carried in the castle faded. She glared at Aziel's back, which was slowly moving forward with his calculative steps.
"Why are we going to the dungeon?" Her cold voice echoed in the dark passage. She had just come out of that horrible place, yet he wanted to take her back there. This only proves he was the cursed prince. He wants to torture her slowly for insulting him and after that, eat her and feed her body to the dogs.
Aziel halted his steps and turned to look at Lily, "I'm hungry," He repeated his former words. He walked forward towards Lily, who didn't bother to move an inch from where she stood.
Aziel stood before Lily and bent down to sniff her neck, "The air around you smells different," He lifted her chin, so she could look him in the eyes, "your thoughts will come to life if the air around you doesn't change this instant."
Aziel smirked and let go of her chin before walking towards the dungeon.
"I don't want to die," Lily voiced loudly. Her voice was no longer cold but pleading. She quickly hid her anger when she remembered that she had just risked her safety by removing the mask of a docile and meek girl.
If she gets too cocky with any of the Maximilian siblings, be it the cursed prince or not, she was surely doomed.
But why did Aziel say those words to her? Did he know her real intentions? Lily hoped not.
"Hmm," Aziel replied and Lily picked up her pace and stood two feet behind him.
They got to the dungeon and the pungent smell overwhelmed Lily. It had only been days, but she could already tell that hundreds of people had been killed and left here to decay before their bodies were given to the wolves.
She placed her hands to her nose to block the smell that filled the space they were in.
Aziel opened a door at the end of the dungeon and went in. Lily followed and was surprised to see that the door revealed stairs that went down. An underground dungeon in an underground dungeon.
Aziel opened another door and revealed about twenty humans and vampires. A guard stood in front of the cage that the twenty people stayed in. The guard bowed his head when he saw Aziel and gave a questioning look to Lily. He wanted to ask who the intruder was, but he was in no place to ask questions, so he swallowed them instead.
"Bring me the weakest, I'm too tired today," Aziel sighed and went into the room next to the huge cage.
Lily looked in pity at the bloody people who cried out and tried to free themselves from the cage. Some were too weak to move, so they lay there helplessly, the ones with little strength held the bars of the cage and cried to be let out.
"What are you doing there, Lily?" Aziel stood at the entrance of the room and looked at Lily with his head slightly tilted.
"I-i am coming," Lily dawdled on her feet and entered the room. In contrast to her expectations, there was no gore.
The room was clean and didn't smell like rotten eggs unlike the other places in this dungeon. There were silk couches and even a bed in the middle of the room. Unlike Aziel's room, this one wasn't so empty though it was huge.
The only puke-triggering thing here were the paintings. The dim candle lights that cast a shadow on the paintings made them even scarier to look at.
The first painting showed a man's head, hanging loosely from his body with his eyes popped wide open and his tongue sticking out. Blood dripped down from his neck and onto his whole body.
The second painting showed a beast digging his long nails into the chest of a woman. Her heart was half in his fist and the remaining was still inside her chest. The sheer look of fear on her face was drawn so perfectly that it looked so real. Almost as if you could hear her screaming.
The third painting was Aziel. His eyes were pure black, and he stood with fury in his eyes. His teeth were painted red, and they gritted themselves tightly. On his right hand was the bloody head of a human and on the left was the bloody head of a woman.
Unknowingly, her bother began to shiver as she closed her eyes tightly at the gore of the other many images she refused to let get imprinted in her mind just like the three she had just taken in.
"Do you like what you see?" Aziel crept behind her and whispered in her ear.
Lily yelped and jumped forward at the sudden intrusion.
The smirk that lingered on his lips made her tremble. She had prepared for many years for the gore she was about to face when she entered the castle.
She had trained day and night, endured harsh wounds to prepare herself for this, she hardened her heart and made herself emotionless.
She did all that, but never for once has she contemplated facing the cursed prince.