"Woof!"
Ren got out of Lith's hands and ran towards the three-headed beast guarding the entrance with a happy smile on his face.
Lith was surprised with Ren's action and although he could stop him, he refrained from doing so because he felt something interesting was going to happen.
Adriel turned to look at Lith, waiting for him to ask her to stop Ren. But noticing how he didn't have any plans to ask her, she focused on the running golden retriever and kept her guard up, ready to save him in case of a mishap.
The mighty three-head beast, as it noticed Ren towards it, was dumbfounded and stared at him.
Ren, as soon as he reached in front of the mighty beast, appeared like an ant in front of an elephant. He was too tiny but he turned his face up and said cutely,
"Woof! Woof!"
"..." The three-headed beast didn't know what to do and stared at Ren. It turned to look at Adriel, then at Lith, and then looked back at Ren.
"Woof! Woof!" Ren continued to bark in a happy tone and wagged his tail while looking at the beast.
The beast, looking at Ren, trembled slightly as it had no idea what to do, but soon…
The beast got covered in a bright light and a split second later,
Poof!
The light vanished and there appeared three young girls, looking like they were in their late teens.
"Woof! Woof!" Ren became happy again and ran at them.
"Awww my baby, come here!" Out of the three, the girl in the middle ran at Ren with open arms.
"Hey, have some decency!" The girl on the left said with visible annoyance.
The running girl ignored those words and reaching Ren, she picked him up and hugged him tightly.
"My child! My child!" She said and snuggled along with Ren.
"What even is happening…" Lith couldn't help but say. This scene was not something he was expecting.
When Ren ran towards the beast, he expected Ren to woof at them and probably make them scared of him.
He was expecting the proverb 'wolf in a sheep's clothing' to come true as he saw him run, but his expectations were washed away by a bucket of cold water and he was left stupefied.
The three young girls, all three had a similar long black tail. The end of the tail was fluffly and looked like a brush. The fluffy end appeared separate by a white cloth that was spirally tied below it.
The three also looked identical but their styles made them appear different.
Of the three, the one at the left had black hair tied into two long ponytails. Her eyes were orange and she stood in a menacing manner at one side, not bothering herself with Ren.
The one hugging Ren right now, she had shoulder length orange hair flowing freely and her eyes were black.
The one at the right, apparently looking zoned out and in her own world, was smiling and talking to the air in front of her.
She had grey eyes and wore glasses. Her hair was voluminous and flowed freely down till her thighs. The hair at the top was black but neck below, they were a bright orange, appearing like flames.
All three also had sharp canines and Lith could guess, they were probably a dog type beast of some sort.
To know more about what was happening, Lith turned to look at Adriel, only to see her look at them with visible surprise.
"Hey, what's happening?" Lith interrupted her and asked.
Adriel walked to Lith's side and looking back at the three girls, answered,
"That's Cerberus, the guardian beast of the Demon Castle. I don't know what happened, but this is the first time I've seen them change form and it's surprising to see they are young girls."
"What? What do you mean? Did you not know they could change forms?" Lith asked, a bit confused.
Adriel shook her head. "I didn't. Her Majesty might probably know, but I don't. Anyway, where did the Prince get that golden retriever from?"
"Why you ask?"
Adriel shook her head again. "Just curious and nothing else. The Prince can choose to not entertain my question."
Adriel's humbleness could be seen clearly and this made Lith have a good impression of her.
"I got him from a relative. Don't know where she got him though." Lith answered honestly.
"I see." Adriel nodded.
Getting no information from Lith, she walked towards the black-haired girl with ponytail and asked,
"Cerberus?"
"What?" The girl seemed to be in a bad mood and asked with annoyance.
"You really are Cerberus." Adriel said with surprise.
"What else do I look like to you, Adriel?" The girl wasn't in a good mood.
This girl was too fierce and bold, Adriel assessed and walked away from her and to the girl hugging Ren.
"Hey, are you Cerberus too?" Adriel asked.
The girl, hugging Ren happily, answered, "No, I am a mama. His mama."
"Are you Cerberus or not?" Adriel asked again.
"I am his mama." The girl answered the same thing again.
Adriel questioned the same thing once more and,
"LEAVE ME WITH MY CHILD ALONE, DAMN IT!" The girl lost her cool and yelled at Adriel.
"Okay." Her temper confirmed that she was indeed Cerberus.
Adriel went to the third girl and was about to question her when she saw her say,
"Heh heh heh… so you're trapped in here. What else were the reasons?"
Adriel was momentarily confused as she saw the girl speak to air in front of her.
But then she focused on the air and saw a tiny and almost invisible ghost speaking something that was inaudible to Adriel.
Ignoring that, Adriel questioned the girl, "You're Cerberus too?"
The girl turned to look at Adriel and said with a smile, showing her sharp canines, "haha, Adriel, long time no see. Where have you been all these days?"
She ignored Adriel's question.
Adriel, feeling there was someone she could finally talk to properly, asked, "Why did—"
"Haha, one second." The girl said and turned to look at thin air. "Yes, yes, continue."
"..." Adriel was dumbfounded, but didn't say anything and kept her cool.
Lith, noticing that Adriel failed to understand what was happening, sighed and shook his head.
"Miss Adriel, take me to aunt." He walked towards her and said.
"Okay." Adriel nodded. The questioning could be done later, she felt. But before leaving, she pointed towards Ren and asked, "But what about him?"
Lith shook his head. "He seems to be in a good company. Let's leave him alone."
"Okay. This way then." Saying so, Adriel started walking towards the castle.
Lith followed her, leaving Ren alone to the young girls that called themselves his mother.
While on his way to the Demon Castle, there were many beasts in the way.
But Adriel's aura scared them and they stayed away from the two.
However, halfway through the distance, Lith saw a pair of red eyes in the far distance, giving a look to Lith.
The eyes shone a bright red and for a split second, Lith felt detached from the whole world, standing in the middle of nowhere.
Everything around him turned dark but soon, this feeling was gone and he noticed himself continuing to walk behind Adriel.
"What…" he couldn't help but say as such a strange encounter happened.
"Hmm?" Adriel turned around, wondering if the Prince had said something.
Noticing Adriel was looking at him, Lith knitted his brows and pointing in a certain direction, asked, "What is over there?"
Adriel looked at where Lith was pointing and notice there to be nothing. But she understood fully what he may be asking.
"Did the Prince feel something strange?" Adriel asked, just to be sure.
"Yes. What happened?" Lith asked.
Adriel nudged her glasses and continuing to walk, explained, "please don't worry. That was just a small encounter with Ouroboros."
"What?" Lith felt he didn't hear it correctly.
"Ouroboros, the Serpant of Time. It was what gazed at the Prince, assessing whether the Prince was a threat to the castle or not." Adriel answered as if it was no big deal.
'The what!?' Lith shouted internally as he was greatly surprised. 'The real Serpant of Time!? Is she saying that my aunt Lucifer has a mythical beast just casually guarding her castle?'
Lith had so many questions now but he kept his curiosity with himself and didn't ask Adriel anything more.
Since he was going to see Lucifer, he might as well just ask her everything.
Holding back great curiosity, Lith followed Adriel and finally when they reached, Adriel was about to knock on Lucifer's door but Lith stopped her and slammed the door open.
Lith was about to storm Lucifer with the questions but the scene he saw inside, made him stop in his tracks and say softly,
"What the fuck..."