Seven Devils and a Rose

Alone, Aaron sighed in relief. Luckily for him, the other demon lords were busy and, therefore, didn't have a moment to spare to relentlessly interrogate and grill him further as to why he wanted to keep the adorable Alfie to himself. Of course, the youngest demon lord had no plans of sharing the boy and the secret gifts he had been receiving with the others. After all, the time he spent with Alfie was precious and the gifts were wonderful, which he admitted went straight to his heart and, yes, his stomach.

A moment later, Aaron headed out the door of the boardroom, came out into a grand foyer, and then entered the elevator. After the sensor detected his dark qi, thus confirming his identity, a row of buttons for different floors appeared on the sidewall. He pushed the ground floor button, and within a split second, he arrived and the door dinged open.

Whistling a happy tune, he strolled out into the foyer. There, two maids who worked in the area curtsied low in respect when they saw him. "My lord," they said in unison.

"Ladies," Aaron said, waving for them to rise.

Once he was out of their sight, the maids rose and giggled in delight.

"He spoke to us today," one said.

The other nodded. "As usual, he's handsome and absolutely delightful."

Outside was lovely, and Aaron knew in his gut that he was going to have a great afternoon spending his time with his best buddy Alfie.

Not wanting to waste any more time, the lord hurried down the path of the exotically beautiful garden and headed toward the east wing. When he arrived some five minutes later, he headed straight toward the back, where a majestic courtyard was located. Within a short distance, he saw a slender figure sitting under a pergola, reading a book. With short, dark hair and wearing very loose clothing consisting of a brown jacket and dark pants, the human youth was, without a doubt, delightful to watch, in Aaron's twinkling eyes.

With a bright grin on his face, the lord headed toward the being who was currently waiting for him to turn up for their promised meeting.

The moment Aaron stepped foot inside the pergola, a pretty face rose to greet him, followed by a bright smile that nearly knocked the wind out of him.

"Aaron!" Alfie, the girl from Earth who just happened to have been transported into the Aurora Realm and was currently dressed as a boy, said in delight. "Look! I can read this now. Isn't it awesome?" She showed him the children's book in glee. "In only five days. Can you believe it? In only five days, I memorized all of Aurora's alphabet and can now read books like this. And it's all thanks to you."

Aaron chuckled, more than a little proud of his student. Of course, he'd be very pleased if Alfie were to give him a great big hug.

Awesome, eh? Alfie used the word awesome, and he thought that he should use it, too. Thus, he said, "That's awesome, Alfie." He couldn't help himself and tousled her hair.

Hmm… Alfie has such soft hair. Thus, Aaron continued to stroke those delicate strands, enjoying himself rather tremendously.

Alfie clasped her hands together and grinned delightfully. She said, "Right, before we get started, let's have lunch." She touched the beautifully designed wooden lunchboxes on the table. "Look at what I've cooked today."

That caught Aaron's interest. He stopped the hair stroking and swiftly moved over to sit on the stone bench opposite Alfie. He eagerly peeked at what delicious offering the little darling had made for him today. Of course, lunch made by Alfie, which was part of a deal he had proposed in exchange for teaching her the realm's main written language, was always something that he looked forward to.

Inside the lunchbox, which Alfie referred to as a bento box, was an assortment of goodies. Aaron recognized the white rice, since he'd had it before during his visitation to the Wulin and Yamato Kingdoms. Rice was their staple diet, after all. He must admit that it was quite delicious, with its softness and sweetness gently melting in his mouth when he ate it.

Noticing Aaron's interest, Alfie said, "This one here is prawn tempura. That's tamagoyaki, or egg roll." She pointed to the golden-brown, crispy prawn and the bright-yellow roll sitting elegantly on the side of the box respectively. "That's stir-fried pork with some vegetables in teriyaki sauce. And that's karaage, or deep-fried chicken drumstick, Japanese style."

Aaron's mouth started watering at just seeing the beautiful sight of the fare. He said, "Let's dig in. I'm starving."

"Yes, let's," Alfie said, opening the other bento box that was meant for her.

Aaron shifted the one for him toward his side of the table and then picked up his chopsticks. He grinned with delight as he started eating, moving the chopsticks in his hand like a pro.

He was just savoring the sweet taste of the pork teriyaki when a voice said, "So this is why you don't want any of us to disturb Alfie, eh?"

Aaron tensed for a moment, food still in his mouth. It was Geoffrey's voice behind him, and he suddenly realized that he had been duped. Geoffrey had lied that he was busy with the nation's work to let Aaron's guard down. Bloody hell!

Once he managed to swallow, he turned, and to his shocked surprise saw not only Geoffrey was there, but Felix and Caleb as well.

Fuck!

Damn if the trio didn't look more than a little annoyed at the sight of Alfie and him together, enjoying a rather pleasant oriental lunch.

Alfie, who was sitting opposite him, rushed out of her seat and came to stand before Lord Geoffrey, Felix, and Caleb. She proceeded to salute and said in greeting, "My lords."

Geoffrey chuckled and fondly ruffled her hair while Aaron popped another piece of teriyaki pork into his mouth, all the while glaring at the three lords in annoyance for interrupting his peaceful time with his best buddy. Of course, his annoyance turned into rage when he saw Felix grab Alfie by the arm and proceed to hug the girl tight, like a fucking lover. The bastard even went so far as to rub his damned nose against his buddy's irresistible flushing red cheek.

"How are you doing, little elf?" Felix asked. "Haven't seen you for days. Did you miss me, darling?" He winked at her, too, and Alfie became all flustered.

Once he finished swallowing that delicious morsel, Aaron said coldly, "Now that you've seen Alfie, leave. Alfie and I have a lot to do. As you can see, I'm teaching him our written language."

Caleb came toward the table and looked at the bento box. "What are these?"

Alfie said, "They're our lunch, my lord. I've been making Lord Aaron's lunches in return for him teaching me how to read and write."