She Belongs To The Devil

"I hope you find me soon… just like you found me all those years ago."

Adeline inhaled sharply and sat up straight on her bed. She was breathing very heavily and her eyes were all wet.

She had a defeated expression on her face. "Ugh! Not again!" she shouted in irritation because she knew what was about to come next.

She tried her best not to cry but tears started to roll down her cheeks uncontrollably. Adeline wiped her tears a few times while complaining about her tears, "Why do these tears always betray me? Don't fall, dammit! What's wrong with you?"

After a while, she gave up trying to control her tears and she ended up burying her face in her palms and crying for some more time.

For some reason, she would always feel miserable whenever she saw this particular dream where a man with a beaten-up face would look at her with teary eyes and would ask her to find him.

But that was not what would make her feel miserable. What would make her cry was the fact that the man would always kiss her before turning into a mist. She wished that she would be able to catch him at least once but she would always end up losing him. And for some reason, seeing that man vanish into thin air would always make her feel heartbroken.

She finally stopped crying after quite a while and wiped her tears with the back of her palms. She pushed her long silver hair away from her face.

Adeline took a few deep breaths in to calm her heart while whispering to herself, "It was just a nightmare. You are already awake now. You don't have to be sad as if you really lost that man. It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare."

Then she turned her head around to glance at the dream catcher which was hanging on the wall above her pillow. And she whispered to that dream catcher, "I guess you've also stopped being effective."

She took it off from the wall and leaned down to grab a box from under her bed. She opened the lid and kept that dream catcher inside. That box was almost full of similar dream catchers.

She clicked her tongue and she looked really worried. "I need to visit Agnes and ask her to enchant another dream catcher for me. The enchantment is starting to wear off sooner and sooner. I wonder if these will stop working altogether someday."

Adeline sighed and slid that box under her bed again. Then she removed the blanket that was covering her body and got off from her bed.

When she initially started to see this recurring dream, she had tried to search for that man in her dream thinking he might be real, and he might be in trouble. She would go to the nearby villages in disguise and would try to look for him.

But because of her unsuccessful attempts, she ended up believing that it was just some nightmare and sought help from Agnes to stop that nightmare from haunting her.

Adeline languidly walked towards her bathhouse. She splashed her face with cold water and dabbed a towel on her face.

"Princess! Princess! Are you awake?" Adeline heard Hawisa knocking on her door and calling her.

"Yes, I am coming," Adeline was excited all of a sudden and she hurried to open the door for her maids.

As she had expected, Hawisa was carrying a tray on which there was a scroll. And Osanna was carrying a basket that had a pile of fresh rose petals. Before they could even come inside her chamber, Adeline grabbed the scroll and ran back inside to sit on her study table.

However, Hawisa and Osanna were not happy with that demeanor of their dear Princess. And they also ran after her.

Adeline had already opened the scroll and was reading it but she was distracted when her personal maids were standing in front of her while giving her a sad stare. So she slowly closed the scroll back and looked at them. And she glanced at them and gave her sweetest smile, "Umm… I am sorry. I was too excited to read what my father had written to me."

"Oh, then we will first prepare a bath for you." Hawisa forced a smile. And Osanna also gave a mirthless smile and nodded.

But Adeline got up from her chair and went and stood in front of the two of them. She curved her lips downward and pretended to be sad, "I thought you two had to say something to me very urgently. But it's okay if you don't want to tell me."

Both Hawisa and Osanna had huge grins on their face. And both of them simultaneously said, "Happy eighteenth birthday, Adeline."

"Thank you!" Adeline also had a huge smile on her face seeing them happy like that. She opened her arms and hugged both of her maids, who were very dear to her.

After they broke off from the hug, Hawisa caressed Adeline's hair and looked at her very lovingly, "You grew up so fast… and you grew up to be a fine lady."

"Yes, she is our Future Queen of Wyverndale." Osanna smiled and glanced at Adeline with glistening eyes.

Hawisa gently elbowed Osanna and gestured something to her with her eye movements. "Oh, right!" Osanna smiled and dug her hands in the basket full of rose petals that she was carrying. She shuffled around and took out a small box.

Then Hawisa and Osanna handed that box to her together. And Hawisa said, "This is a small gift from our side."

Adeline was not expecting any gift from her maids so she had a surprised look on her face. "Gift for me? You didn't have to."

"But we wanted to give something to you. We had this made especially for you so please don't reject it." Osanna insisted.

Adeline was a bit reluctant to accept any gift from them, but since they said that they had it made especially for her, she didn't want to hurt their feelings so she took the box from their hands. She opened the box to find a beautiful hairpin that was made out of pure gold. The pin had a design of an exquisite phoenix that was ready to fly.

However, Adeline abruptly closed the lid of the box and put it back on Hawisa'a hand. "I am sorry, I cannot accept this. This must have cost almost all of your savings. How can you two be so stupid and spend it all on me? Shouldn't you be saving the coins for your future?"

But Hawisa took Adeline's hand again and put the box back on her palm. "You have reached a marriageable age today and it is a tradition in Wyverndale for mothers to give their daughters a hairpin on this day. We are not your mother but we wanted to fulfill that tradition anyway."

Adeline was really touched by this gesture from them. She smiled with her eyes full of tears. She hugged both of them again and whispered to them, "You two are no less than my mothers. I grew up in your love and care after all. I am really lucky to have you in my life, Hawisa and Osanna.. I promise that I will take care of you both when you grow old."