She Belongs To The Devil

Azriel was done with the question-answer round with Nigel. So he informed the Prince of the same, "You have now completed the Test of Worthiness. I will lead you to another room where you can wait until the other finalists complete their tests. All of you will know the result after some time."

Azriel got up from his Wyvern-throne and was about to take Nigel to one of his actual waiting rooms. But Nigel interrupted the Deity, "Dragon Immortal, may I put forth a request in front of you?"

Azriel gave a nod and gestured for Nigel to proceed with his request.

So Nigel bowed his head and said, "Dragon Immortal, I don't know who is going to be the future ruler of Wyverndale, but if there is even a small chance that I will be the one then I would like to withdraw myself from the pool of finalists. I would not like to be considered for the position of the future ruler of Wyverndale."

Even though Nigel had already come to terms with giving up on his lifelong dream of becoming the King of Wyverndale, his heart clenched a little when he said that out loud to the Deity, that also after completing the final level of the test.

Azriel pretended not to know why and asked Nigel, "And why would you want to give up on the throne when you have come this far? What if I tell you that you were going to be the one to sit on the throne of Wyverndale? Would you still want to give up?"

Nigel took a deep breath in and smiled. Then he glanced at the Deity with confidence and said, "Yes, Dragon Immortal. I would still want to give up because I know that I am not supposed to be the one to sit on the throne of Wyverndale. My fate took a drastic turn the moment I activated my werewolf curse."

Nigel gave an appreciative smile to the Deity and said, "To be honest, I didn't think that you would let me advance till the very last level after knowing about my werewolf curse. I am really grateful to you that you did not differentiate between me and the others because of that."

Azriel came down from the platform and stood in front of Nigel. He gave a warm smile to that innocent and selfless wolf-boy, and asked, "Why would I be unfair to you just because you are different from the others? You are the son of Dragomir and you have an equal right to the throne as the others. All I seek in the future ruler is a combination of impeccable leadership qualities." 

He then gently placed his hand on Nigel's shoulder and spoke from the bottom of his heart, "I know why you gave up on the throne; you care a lot about the safety of people around you. I can tell that you would have been a great King. In fact, you are still in my top two choices for the position of the future ruler. But I won't impose the position on you if you don't want it."

After Azriel said that, both of them were transported to a waiting room that had exactly 24 chairs, out of which 19 were already occupied by the unconscious Princes and Princesses who had already failed the test.

Nigel was confused by that scene so Azriel explained to him, "They are just sleeping. I didn't want them to create a commotion in here so I put them under a sleeping spell. You can choose one chair and sit down. The remaining three will join you soon. And I will wake everyone up to announce the result."

Nigel nodded his head. And before the Deity vanished from the room, he thanked Azriel, "I appreciate it that you listened to my concern. Thank you a lot, Dragon Immortal."

Azriel narrowed his eyes and gave a friendly warning to Nigel, "Don't you dare completely cut off ties with Wyverndale, wolf-boy. Don't forget your roots even though you leave the Kingdom. The future ruler will need your support, and if there ever comes a time when Wyverndale needs you, return back. I know your biggest fear is losing control and harming your loved ones, but I am sure you will be able to conquer your fear."

Azriel's words gave warmth and a new sense of hope to Nigel. "I promise that I will conquer all of my fears, Dragon Immortal. Thank you again. I feel very blessed to have met you."

Azriel gave his mysterious smile to Nigel and vanished from the room, leaving Nigel awake.

Nigel let out a huge sigh of relief after the Dragon Immortal left him. He was glad that the Dragon Immortal did not force him to take the position of the future ruler. He was unsure how he would have handled the situation if he would have actually been announced the future ruler.

On the other hand, he also felt happy to know that he was among the top two choices. He felt content just by knowing that he was worthy of the throne of Wyverndale.

Nigel then turned around to look at his half-siblings who were sleeping peacefully on their chairs. He searched for Adeline among them, and he was happy that Adeline was not there in the waiting room. "This means she also reached the final stage of the test, right?"

Nigel sat on one of the empty chairs and then smiled, "I hope she will be the one. It was her childhood dream to become the Queen of Wyverndale. I know she will make a great ruler."

---

Back in the test room of Adeline, Azriel had already given four scenarios to her. And he was about to give the final scenario to her.

But he felt like giving a very tricky situation to her and having some fun. And in order to put Adeline under extreme pressure, he decided to take her somewhere grand, "The final situation that I am going to give you is going to need a special location. Hold on tight, I am going to take you somewhere else."

And with a snap of his finger, the two of them were transported into an open space that looked like a battleground… of Hell.

Everywhere she turned, the place was covered with hues of red, black, and blue. The sky looked like it was about to give birth to a deadly storm. The land looked as though there was lava running under it; hot steam was coming off from the small cracks that were all over the land. And far in the distance, she could see the outline of some dead trees that made the place look even scarier.

Looking at this place, Adeline got a very bad feeling in her gut.