Villain: The Play of Destiny

"Hey!" He brightly smiled at the two ladies who were sitting in his room, playing chess, away from everyone else who was either greeting the guests or enjoying their time at the party. 

"You are late." Amelia lightly smiled at him. "Was everything okay?"

"Yes." He nodded to her before approaching them. "Everything is fine." He leaned in and stole a kiss from her lips. "And you look beautiful tonight, Love." 

"Thank you!" She kissed him back. "And you need to dress up fast. Everything is prepared and is in the dressing room." 

"Thank you!" He chuckled and then turned to the other girl before kissing her on the cheek. "Hey, Gorgeous!" 

"Where were you?" Qingyue blushed a little and asked. 

"Out of the city." 

"Yes, but where?"

"Delvon." He escaped the scene before she could ask any more questions or express her worries. 

After a quick shower and getting dressed in a Royal Blue Tuxedo, he put on his shoes and exited the dressing room. 

"Amy, would you help me dry my hair?" He asked as he tied the bow to his neck. 

"Come!" She left the game midway and stood up to walk towards the dressing table, making him sit down as she started working on his hair. 

Qingyue watched how the two of them just seemed so natural around each other. She had not seen them talk a lot, but she had always felt that they could talk to each other without speaking any words. And right now, as she witnessed Amelia wearing a light smile on her lips, helping him set his hair, she could not help but feel a little envious. However, no matter how much she wanted to go forward and join them, she stayed in her place, deciding to not spoil their moment. 

"How do I look?" He confidently smiled at the grey-eyed girl and asked when Amelia was done fixing his hair. 

"As usual." She just shrugged, not willing to compliment him since she knew it would only give him a reason to showcase his narcissism. 

"Of course, I am perfect!" He proudly said and grinned when he watched her sigh helplessly. "You two can finish up your game and then I will take you to meet some special guests." He picked up his watch from the side table and said to them. 

Both of them nodded to him and then continued with the game they had left midway. It only took five minutes for Amelia to wrap it up, and the grey-eyed girl unhappily pouted. 

"Playing against you makes me question my intelligence..." She blurted out the words in her heart. 

"Yeah. You are not intelligent enough." Keith kept looking at his phone and nodded his head to her words. 

"Is that so?" She dangerously narrowed her eyes at him, glaring daggers at him, and Keith just smirked at her, which irked her some more. 

"He's just messing around with you." Amelia lightly said, stopping them from heckling, and then looked at Keith. "Let's go."

Of course, Qingyue knew that he was messing around. But she just could not help getting mad at him whenever he did such a thing. However, at the same time, she also quite liked this interaction. 

"Let's go." He put his phone away and then grabbed their hands before leading them out of the room. 

"Did you meet Rebecca?" The grey-eyed girl curiously asked. 

"No." He shook his head. "I asked Viola and she told me that Aunt Celine and Aunt Danielle are helping her get ready. I can't see her before the start of the Ceremony." 

Qingyue nodded to his words and did not say anything. If she was being honest, she quite enjoyed the antics of the ever-so-composed Rebecca, who was quite unhappy today as Keith had not stayed home with her on her birthday. Which was absurd, considering he had spent the entire night with her and had even arranged for a private party last night. To her, Rebecca was just being a little too greedy. 

The two ladies followed him to the fourth lounge, which was reserved for the special guests of the night. 

Inside, they found a lot of people present, but what baffled Qingyue was how everyone stood up and bowed to Keith as soon as he entered. 

It was not a polite bow, but a proper bow that was reserved for the elders. 

"Greetings, Lord Erebus!" All of them said in unison. "Greetings, Mrs Demiliore, Miss Lin!" 

And she was more surprised by how respectfully they greeted her and Amelia. 

"Please. Don't stand on the ceremony." Keith politely said. "Thank you all for coming to my Engagement Ceremony." He said and then walked up to them, greeting Hermes first. 

"Lord Hermes. You seem in good health." He drew his hand forward and the tall and lanky man with pin straight long black hair shook his hand and brightly smiled. 

"Thank you, Lord Erebus." He graciously said. "And thank you for giving me a chance to provide my services to you. Your letter has been safely delivered to Lord Hades."

"I would not trust anyone else to deliver my messages, Hermes." He smiled, and his words evoked a brighter smile on the Master of Messengers' face.

Next, he, along with his ladies, met the High-Priest of the Temple of Dionysus, Wulferic, who was an old man, seemingly in his sixties, with a snow-white beard, grey eyes, and a very amicable face. 

Together with the High-Priest came two Guardians of the Temple of Dionysus, one of whom was Taurus, who had met Keith before. The second Guardian was called Leon, and true to his name, he resembled a Lion thanks to his think mane-like golden-brown beard. 

The next group Keith greeted were the Heralds of Sin, Wednesday, and Draig. And with them were few other members of the City of Sin. 

Unlike Wednesday, who was a very refined man, Draig was just too burly. He was over seven feet in height and built like a bull, and then there was the long-running diagonal scar on his face that made him quite a scary person to Qingyue. However, once they chatted, the grey-eyed girl was surprised by how soft-spoken and polite this big man was. 

And finally, the three of them greeted the man, who was sitting a little away from everyone else, enjoying the Cloud's Blood Wine. 

"Lord Volos." Keith smiled and shook hands with the wandering God of Netheria. 

The other people in the room curiously looked at Volos, and some of them were seeing him for the first time in their lives. 

They were quite surprised and even a little apprehensive since Volos was supposed to be a very strong God, and his Inheritor was bound to be strong as well, someone who could stand on equal terms with the likes of Hades. 

And then there was the fact that Tronten was quite famous too. His exploits were legendary, and then there was his resounding victory against the last Inheritor of Hades, nearly two centuries ago, which had shot him to fame and had led to the downfall of Purgatory Island. 

Some speculated that the old Hades had suffered a grievous injury in his battle against Volos, which was why he started aging too early and ultimately reached his end because he never recovered from it. 

"Lord Erebus." Ian shook his hand and smiled before politely bowing to the two ladies. 

Keith introduced them to each other and then engaged Tronten in a polite chat. It mostly revolved around the recent events in their country, and soon others joined in the conversation as well.

"Please, excuse me. I must now go and greet the other guests." Keith said after some time, and everyone understandably nodded their heads. "Thank you." He smiled at them and then turned to look at Volos. "The Lady of Night will be here once the Ceremony starts." He informed him, but the others heard his words too, and they subconsciously tensed up. 

"Lady Nyx is here?" Hermes gulped and asked. 

"Yes." Keith smiled at him and then gestured to his ladies to follow him out of the room.

"Keith." Qingyue could not contain her curiosity and looked at him. "Who were these people?" 

"They are from the Underworld." He told her. 

"What?!" She halted in her steps and looked at him in disbelief. 

"Oh, no. They're not gangsters." He chuckled as he knew what she was thinking. "I will tell you about the Underworld some other time." He told her. "And Ian is a Colonel in the Netherian Military. However, he holds a lot more power in his hands than any other Colonel. He's a special Military Officer." 

"Is that why he was there in that room? To keep a check on all those people? And what's with this Nyx, Hermes, Volos, Hades, and Erebus?" She asked one after the other, and Amelia smiled at her words.

"The people from Underworld have a fetish for Godly names." She said. "Those are Rebecca's words." 

"You are part of the Underworld?" Qingyue frowned at Amelia's words and asked Keith. 

"Yes, and no." He shrugged. "I will tell you about it later." And then he looked at his wife, who was waiting to ask a question. 

"Nyx?" 

Keith nodded to her. 

"Princess Leilah Bint-e-Maryam." 

"Oh..." She frowned. "Noxville, of course." She smiled and then looked her husband in the eyes. "They were all scared of her..." 

"That's because she is scary." He chuckled and then planted a kiss on her forehead. "She's immensely powerful, both in terms of strength and influence. And she's perhaps the most powerful lady we will ever come across in our lives." He meaningfully said and then grabbed her hand, squeezing it assuringly before she could start worrying about it.

"Keith..." Qingyue was about to ask another question but he shut her up by planting his mouth on hers. "Later, Qingyue!" He nudged his nose with hers and smiled amusedly at her burning blush. 

"Mhmm..." 

It was quite cute how she lowered her head and obediently nodded to him before following him to the Ballroom, where all the guests were gathering tonight. 

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