His unfailing promises

Sitting in front of a large mirror was a girl wearing a dress that had the color of blood. It was a beautiful dress but the color was terrifying!

She had short red hair and clear brown eyes. She looked at her reflection and touched her hair.

"Is this my natural hair color?" She asked, no one in particular and suddenly, a hand was placed on her shoulder.

It was a white haired man with blood red eyes and a horn sticking out of his head on the left side. He was a demon!

"It's not!" He said with a polite smile.

"You're...? "

"I haven't introduced myself yet but that's not what is important right now!" He looked into the mirror with her. "You don't remember anything yet, do you?" She shook her head. "Well, it can't be helped!" He let go and walked to her front, blocking her view of the mirror. "I'll help you remember, like I promised!" He smiled and pressed his index finger on her forehead. "This will take a while!"

************(Flash back)************

"Haah! Haah! Haah!" Susan kept panting as she ran through the endless and dark forest with only the moon to light her path.

She couldn't make out anything other than the fact that she was in the woods and something was chasing her.

She kept running because she couldn't stop. If she did, 'it' would catch her. But what was it?

What was chasing her? It had a formless dark figure with glowing red eyes. It chased her deep into the forest but had no thought of catching her.

It really felt like, it only needed her to run. Keep running and never stop.

'Why? Why is it chasing me?' Susan thought with tears gushing out her eyes and spreading with the wind.

She was scared and just wanted to get away from it, why was it so difficult to escape?

She got to a lake and stopped. The moon reflected it's rays on the lake, causing it to glow.

It would've appeared beautiful if she wasn't running for her life. She took in a few breath before daring to look back.

Her pursuer seemed to have given up but as soon as she turned her head towards the lake, she met it's bloody red eyes. Startled, she woke up.

Susan opened her sharp brown eyes but they didn't look so sharp. They looked scared and afraid.

She kept panting and grabbed her chest. Her heart was unsteady and her entire body was covered in cold sweat.

"It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare!" She assured herself and pushed the strands of black hair behind her ears.

She couldn't get rid of the fright that accompanied the nightmare, no matter how much she assured herself

Those bloody red eyes haunted her and she didn't think she could close her eyes.

"Get it together Susan, it's not real. It was just a nightmare!" She kept telling herself and sighed.

Her room was poorly lit but her windows were open yet, it felt like she was suffocating in her room.

She wasn't one to easily have nightmares and even if she did, she could always brush it aside by the morning but this time, it felt so real to the extent that she could still feel the branches from the forest, brushing roughly against her skin.

"What am I thinking about now? I shouldn't think too much, today's the day!" She flopped on her bed but didn't dare to close her eyes.

Susan, being a good daughter, agreed to get married to her betrothed. It was true that arranged marriages were uncommon in the present age and time but, some families still held on to it. Like her family.

They had her betrothed to a man when she was just 8 years old. She couldn't refuse as she concidered her family's condition.

Her father owned a small business and was in need of investors. This marriage would not only help his business out but would tie her family to a great family as the Esclairs, which had been in existence for decades. So it was more like getting sold.

Other than that, she still didn't know if her soon to be husband was actually still young as the rumors said or if he was actually a perverted old man.

"I'm going to miss you!" Katherina, Susan's younger sister, wailed.

She wore a pink floral dress just for the occasion of saying goodbye but, she couldn't stop herself from crying.

Susan had two younger siblings, Lucas and Kathrina.

Lucas was the first and only son while Katherine was the last.

Katherina was about 14 years old with a kind heart yet vibrant personality with beautiful brown hair and blue eyes. She had a bit of a lose mouth but that only applied to the people she was close to and anyone she hated.

Lucas was 20 years old. He was tall, good-looking and a lot of girls had eyes on him.

At least he wouldn't have trouble finding a girlfriend, that was certain. But he was always at war with Kathrina! They both needed help! Seriously!

"It's okay, Kathy! I promise to come visit once I'm settled there, okay?" Susan promised. Although, she acted like she wasn't affected, her countenance looked lonely and sad.

"But why do you have to go live there? You're just getting engaged. It's not like you're marrying him already." Katherina pointed out and hugged Susan tight. "I don't want you to go!" She sniffed.

'I don't want to go either but, it's for the best' Susan thought.

"I heard rumors that 'that guy' isn't so nice. They say he's evil with an angelic appearance, that's why he rarely shows up in public." Katherina stated and Lucas scolded her.

"Kathy!" Lucas called. "You can't badmouth a man you've never met, not less seen!" He warned and she glared at him.

"So what? It's all over the news. I can't believe that all of it is a lie, there's gotta be some truth!"

"You..." Lucas felt annoyed at her childish judgement but she was not all wrong. Even with fake news, there was truth to it. He couldn't handle her and just turned to Susan. "Anyway sis, take care." He said "If he ever bullies you, let me know. I'll teach him a lesson."

Susan nodded and laughed. She would miss them. No, she already missed them.

"Now now, dear Susan is leaving. We should leave our best last impressions." Their mother approached and Susan smiled warmly.

"Mom!" She hugged her.

"You don't need to worry about anything Suzy dear, we'll take care of things at this end while you ...just take care of yourself."

"I will, mom!" Susan felt mixed. Was it the longing emotion that led someone into crying or was it the bitter emotion that led someone to scream? She didn't know what to do but one thing was for sure, she had to make sure her family didn't worry about her. "Where's dad?"

"Your father has some business to take care of so, he can't see you off." Her mom said and she nodded.

"I understand!" With that, she hugged her siblings one last time and got into the car.

According to the driver who had come to pick her up, the drive would take approximately two hours. So she decided to sleep and ward off the anxiety that was building up in her heart.

She had so many questions to ask but just kept them in her mind.

'What would the house look like? How will the people there respond to me? Am I meant to say anything or just remain silent? What would ...what would he look like?' she drowned herself in her thoughts and slept off.

A few hours later, she woke up to see the entrance of her new home. The gates were huge and was a bit frightening. It was painted in black and so was the rest of the mansion.

"Wait, that's a freaking castle!" Susan exclaimed at the sight. She was truly shocked at the size.

Unlike houses that were found in the resent centuries, this mansion looked to be thousands of years old and yet, it was still standing and in good shape.

The car stopped. It was time for her to alight. She reached out to open the door but someone beat her to it.

A good looking young man with pale skin, short silver hair and blue eyes opened her door for her. He was smiling so professionally that she concluded him to be a servant or something.

"Welcome home, my lady!" He greeted and bowed. She was dumbstruck at his action but when she looked behind him, her jaw dropped.

Behind him were two long rows of servants bowing at her. It was truly unbelievable. Where exactly was this?