Chapter 12: A stroll in the garden

"A gardener?"

"Yes a gardener." Ashton answered back, looking at her he saw the small smudge in her expression, "Is there a problem with that?" he asked.

"Oh no, well thank you but I rather be your wife, a queen rather than a gardener." She explained a small smile appearing on her face.

"I know, I was just teasing you," Veronica frowned at the realization and she felt fooled by it, "Come on let's take a walk" he offered taking her hands, they took a stroll to the outskirts of the palace.

Veronica felt a little worried and curious about where they were going, she remembered how Ralph had told her that the people outside the palace walls were people with evil intention and they would do anything to get what they wanted.

"Where are we going?"

"Oh don't worry you would find out." Ashton said as the passed the main gates of the palace and it got Veronica a little bit worried, "Don't worry I won't harm or put you in trouble." He told her when he felt her anxiousness.

They entered inside the woods, where the saw huge trees slowly pass them, Veronica noticed how the trees lack leaves and it got her curious, turning to her side to face Ashton she asked.

"Why are the tree like that, they have no leaves."

"It's just how it is and how it would always be, the land of the dead doesn't have life, well very little though like the garden." He said as he followed her line of sight, she was looking around the vase land that had dried up trees. "The land of the dead is really a unique place and so is your world but they can't compare, the land of the dead is divided into four regions, Averitt, Haleigh, Ryleigh and Kyleigh."

Veronica got a little bit confused with the brief explanation that Ashton had given her, she thought that the land of the dead was just a small region and it was ruled by one lord and that was Ashton, who could have known that it was that huge.

"Why are is the other three ending with the same pronunciation, 'Leigh'?" she asked him when she noticed how the resemble alike.

"Because they have almost the same characteristics for example spring for these three land is very rare but for that of the Averitt it is very cold and dark it is also known as hell the place where souls are being punished." He said and he noticed the drastic change in Veronica's expression, she gulped and rub her palms that glided against each other easily because of the sweat that had come to form on them. "You don't have to worry, if only you're bad and evil then you can."

"Hell…" she murmured to herself and she felt the very weight of the word, but why was she scared? Ashton had told her that if she had done any bad or evil thing then she had to worry, but she didn't do anything evil, or did she? She had gotten married to a demon and she had bounded her soul to his wasn't that enough for her to go to hell.

"Don't worry too much Ivy the more you think about it the more you get confused and scared, that's why you just have to leave your curiosity static" he said looking at her where her eyes wavered a little, "the land we stand on is called the Ryleigh Kingdom, it is the head because, I, the lord rules it." Veronica noticed the slight pride in his voice, "the Kyleigh kingdom is also known as the ghost town, the ghosts occupies that land the most, and the last of them all is the Haleigh where the reapers like to stay but only a very few amount of people know about this."

"Why?" she asked paying rapt attention, what he said had gotten her attention and it got her interested and even more curious at the moment.

"Because immediately you enter the land the first thing the person would see is a very vase water body and a very huge fog obstructing the person's sight from what is in it, the water is filled with skeletons and skulls and even probably abandoned souls in there. The souls might decide to go to hell and get more souls from there and they would turn them into soul eaters." He said and Veronica scrunched her eyebrows finding that word very familiar, 'soul eaters' she had heard it from Ralph sometime back and now that Ashton had mentioned it, it quipped her curiosity and attention.

"Soul eaters? I have heard of it once from Ralph…" she said, Ashton turned to look at her, he waited for her to complete her sentence which she did, "He told me that soul eaters are like monsters that suck people's soul." Ashton gave her a creepy smile before he said.

"Yes they are, but to give you a better understanding soul eaters are souls that escaped from hell, the take this kind of portion that makes them stronger and also gives them the ability to survive in different conditions in the land of the dead."

"If they take a portion for them to become stronger and be able to survive through various conditions then what about me, I have a soul then how I'm I able to live through these threatening conditions."

"You're asking me a question that also makes me wonder." He said turning his head to catch her gaze, his eyes stayed longer on her and she felt it, she immediately shifted her gaze to look at something else, Veronica felt that Ashton wasn't telling her the whole truth, he was hiding something from her and she wanted to find out what it was, but she knew who Ashton was he wasn't going to easily let the cat out of the bag.

She signed internally, closing her eyes, she felt a huge wind blow towards her, as it blew the small red scarf she was wearing a little, before she positioned it properly again. A comfortable silence enveloped the two of them where Ashton didn't want to tell her more than necessary, the clouds had darkened where the sun had begun to settle down slowly, Ashton noticing this turned and said.

"Come let's go back, it's getting quite late" he said as they both headed back to the palace.

 When they had both reached the palace, Ashton gave Veronica to her maids for them to tuck her into bed, while he walked past the dark passage. It was very quiet and the only sound that could be heard was the clicking of his shoes, he kept on walking not bothering to lit up the candles after a few moments he stopped abruptly, noticing that something was wrong.

"Ralph come out I know you are here." He said his serene eyes matching the darkness around him, he stared at the wall where Ralph immediately appeared in front of him.

"It looks like the lord enjoyed his outing with lady Veronica." Ralph said giving the lord a teasing smile, "You know I really didn't want to disturb your tonight, but I just felt that it would be quite nice to see the lord reflect some emotions probably embarrassment."

"And why would I be embarrassed? Is it for having a wife? Or reducing my status by talking to an annoying ghost? You know I think it's the last one" Ralph clenched his teeth before giving the lord a sneaky smile.

"You know, you might call me annoying but I'm still important and you and I both know that."

"Yes you are important to me but not at the moment, I need some time to myself please I would like it if you could just disappear" he said as he briskly left where Ralph was staying.

Ralph waited behind Ashton, finding it boring to chase after and keep pestering the lord he disappeared.

*******

After a few days had passed, around the time of night, Veronica tossed and turned around the bed, the sleep she wanted had been extinguished long time ago and it got her frustrated. She stood up from the bed, leaving her room to take a short walk around the passage of the palace, she yawned softly taking gentle steps so as not to wake up anyone in the palace, but Veronica still doubted that the people around the palace ever slept as they had no soul and they couldn't get easily tired like her. As she was walking ahead, she saw the door of Ashton's room slightly opened, the bright light that came out of the room caught her attention, immediately she padded to where the door was slightly opened and pipped inside the room.

 From the way how things were looking, she couldn't see anyone inside the room, but as she kept on pipping she saw Ashton who briefly walked across the room, he had a parchment in his hands and he looked like he was seriously reading it, it looked like he had stepped out of the bath as a towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair was dripping wet, Veronica's mouth opened slightly as she took in his view, he had a firm chest, that were bisected evenly with an invisible line, he also had abs that kept going downwards still she saw the V-shape of his waist and the rest was covered by his towel that was tied loosely, her eyes followed the pattern of the drop of water that dripped from his hair, it kept on trailing down his body until it disappeared inside the towel again.

Veronica felt her body turn hotter than it was supposed to be, she closed her eyes taking steady breaths to calm herself down. As she opened her eyes again, she saw something that she wasn't supposed to see and she felt that she had sinned dearly, Ashton dropped the towel on the floor leaving his naked body in full view, she saw him pick up the long shaft that was in between his legs and she felt utterly ashamed for looking, he was well endowed as it was huge and long. Veronica turned around and immediately dashed to her room fanning her face that had already long gone bright red. The person who was inside the room looked towards the door, his eyes narrowed as he had noticed the presence of the girl that dashed out of the room.

He immediately turned his head back and nodded to the woman who on her knees to continue her work. Veronica jumped towards the bed where she covered herself with the white quilt, she felt that she had done something bad which she had, she forced herself to close her eyes and forget about it but her mind kept drifting away and it got her worried, her mind had registered how toned his chest was and she couldn't still forget the sight of his long… Agh she was getting tired of this closing her eyes sleep was forced to come because of the things that hovered around her head and soon she didn't know when she had drifted off to sleep.