She Belongs To The Devil

Adeline tore the envelop open and happily took out the letter that her dear brother had sent her. She raised her brows and smiled. "Oh! Did he write two pages this time? I should expect a lot of interesting stories then."

She would get excited every time he would send her a letter because he would share interesting stories about her niece and nephew. And she loved reading about their stories.

Theodore didn't want to peek into the letter as well. He had already invaded her privacy a lot today. And after seeing her happy again, he felt that she would not be doing anything stupid like what she was doing in the morning.

So he thought of giving a visit to Lucifer. But before he left, he gazed at Adeline very lovingly and wished her quietly, "Happy birthday, Adeline. I wish that you will remember me soon."

He was fighting his urge to embrace her and kiss her. And before it would be too hard for him to control his urges, he disappeared from the room.

Adeline, unaware of his presence as well as absence, started to read Nigel's letter excitedly.

"Dear Adeline,

I want to wish you a happiest birthday. And I would like to apologize for not being personally present on your birthday. To make up for my absence, I have sent a painting of the twins. But I think you have already stared at it for hours before reading this letter."

Adeline chuckled at how well her brother could predict her actions. And she whispered to herself, "You are right, brother. I did stare at the paintings first. They are too cute to resist."

And she continued reading the letter where Nigel explained how his son and daughter had already learned how to sit up on their own and how they would even try to crawl sometimes. And he also mentioned how Fenris and Wulfric would kidnap each of the twins when Rhea would be sleeping. And how they would pretend to be babysitting the twins just to get out of tough training.

Adeline felt a little jealous of Fenris and Wulfric for being able to see the twins grow and for being able to play with them every day. And she, on the other hand, had not even seen the twins until now.

Finally, Nigel's letter ended with warm wishes for his sister.

"Happy birthday once again. I will come to Wyverndale when the twins will be old enough to travel long distances in the carriage. Till then, we will keep on exchanging letters like always.

With endless love from your brother."

"Hmm…" Adeline frowned because the letter from her brother ended on a single page. She flipped to the next page while thinking, "Then what's written on the next page?"

"Oh!" Adeline smiled when she saw her sister-in-law's name on the next page. She rarely wrote letters to Adeline separately. If she had something to say to Adeline then Nigel would include that in the letter that he wrote. So Adeline felt happy that Rhea had sent a separate letter to her this time.

The letter started with a birthday wish for Adeline. And Adeline kept on reading further.

"Adeline, I hope that you are not angry with us for not attending your special birthday. Nigel told me that eighteenth birthdays are considered to be a special birthday in Wyverndale. He told me that when one turns 18 in Wyverndale, they are considered to have reached a marriageable age and thus, are really special."

Adeline smiled and nodded her head and continued reading the letter.

"We would have loved to be present in the ceremony but traveling with babies is really exhausting. I cannot even go to the market in the valley with the twins, leave alone traveling for two whole days in the carriage.

I felt that Nigel really wanted to be there for your birthday and I even asked him to visit you without us. But he is too protective of the twins. He doesn't like to part with them even for half a day. I am not implying that you are not important to him anymore, you really are. I am just saying that he is too concerned for the babies."

Adeline puckered her lips and thought, "It must have been really hard for Nigel and Rhea to look after the kids, especially for Rhea. I hope the nannies are helping them take care of the twins." Adeline sighed and continued reading.

"And there was another thing which I wanted to ask you since you have officially reached the marriageable age. I hope you won't feel like I am overstepping or being nosy, but I can't help it. I wanted to ask about your marriage plan with Theodore."

"Theodore?" A deep frown settled on Adeline's forehead when she read that last line. 

She was staring at the letter with an extremely puzzled look on her face. "Who is Theodore?" Adeline could not tell whether Rhea was just pulling her leg or… was it the name of that person who she always saw in her dreams, the one whose voices she heard.

But it didn't make any sense that her sister-in-law would know that man who appeared in her nightmare when she herself didn't know who he was.

So she dismissed that and thought that her sister-in-law was trying to introduce someone to her. And hesitantly, she continued reading the letter.

"When are the two of you getting married? It has already been two years since you two were engaged. So I am already excited to hear the good news."

Adeline had to re-read that paragraph to make sure that she was not misreading it. And to her astonishment, she had not misread it. Adeline felt sudden discomfort in her heart. If this was some kind of joke then she was not laughing. She rubbed her palm against her chest and read the rest of the letter anyway.

"But you never write about Theodore. I hope everything is okay between the two of you. If you don't feel like sharing stories about Theodore with your brother then you can always write to me. And if you need any relationship advice then don't shy away from asking your expert sister-in-law.

God bless both of you.

With Love,

Rhea"

Adeline put the letter aside and abruptly got up from the chair.

She clasped her mouth with both of her palms so as not to cry. But her eyes were already flooded with tears. And her head began to hurt very badly. She tried breathing in and out deeply but there was no point… she was already crying.

She was crying because she always had this unsettling feeling that she had forgotten someone very dear to her. And from Rhea's letter, it sounded as if it was true. She had forgotten her fiancé!

Adeline crouched down on the floor and whispered in a pain embedded voice, "How could I forget my fiancé?" 

She lied down on the wooden floor in a fetus position.. She then began to cry even harder. "And why did no one ever tell me about him before today? Is everyone trying to separate him from me? What happened between us exactly?"