She Belongs To The Devil

It was already nightfall. Adeline was already back in her room. She did not feel like eating anything after the incident with her father. So she asked her maids not to bring any food for her. She changed into her nightgown and curled up in her bed.

King Dragomir had regained his consciousness in the afternoon. Adeline asked how he was feeling and she asked him to rest for a few days. Dragomir denied that but eventually ended up bending to his daughter's stubbornness.

The two of them, however, didn't speak a word about their fight earlier. Adeline didn't want to be the cause of her father's sickness while Dragomir wasn't yet ready to have another conversation about the infamous Devil. And after staying with her father for some time, Adeline returned back to her own quarter.

Adeline waited for Theodore to show up in her room. Even though she was already feeling sleepy, she kept on forcing her eyes open. She didn't want to wait for another day to ask the questions that were in her mind.

"Theo… please come faster. I need you," Adeline whispered while clutching the pillow that he had used the other day.

However, no matter how long she waited, Theodore did not come to her room. And eventually, she ended up succumbing to her need for sleep.

---

King Reginald was having a meeting with his Head General and his Chief Advisor. The Head General, Lord Carlos, was giving all the minute details of the war that he and the previous King had put in place.

Reginald listened to the Head General's explanation for a while but then he just could not concentrate anymore. The more he listened to the explanation, the more he felt as though the full-fledged war was really unnecessary.

At last, he could not take the information overload and then burst out, "General Carlos, I appreciate that you and my father prepared all this detailed plan to overthrow the current King of Wyverndale and capture the Kingdom for ourselves."

He frowned and put forth a big question, "But is this all necessary?" He raised his brows and asked the Head General in a monotone, "Do we really have to go through all that trouble just to capture or kill a single human King?"

The Head General felt like rolling the map that was spread out on the table in front of him and then smacking the King with it. He knew that Reginald would ask some stupid questions like this so he had already explained at the beginning of the meeting why it was necessary to wage a war against Wyverndale. He had already explained why killing the King without the war was out of the question.

But he swallowed his frustration and said very calmly, "Your Majesty, killing the King of Wyverndale is not the ultimate goal of the war. The ultimate goal is overtaking the Kingdom."

"But to claim that Kingdom, all we need to do is kill their King, right?" Reginald twisted the words of the Head General and asked with a chilling smile.

After all the explaining that Carlos had done, Reginald was still asking stupid questions. So the Head General tried his best to make King Reginald understand again, "Waging war is the proper way to take over any Kingdoms, Your Majesty. We cannot simply go and kill the King at night and say that we now own that nation. Everyone will revolt. No one will accept your rule if you use, what the humans call, a cheap trick."

"But if you wage a war and win, that will signify that Mihir is stronger than Wyverndale. And the people of Wyverndale will be forced to bow down to you and accept you as their Emperor." Carlos then gave a 'Do you understand or should I say more?' look to his King.

Reginald flipped his red hair and sighed. "Alright! Alright! We shall wage a war against Wyverndale. Being the necessary preparations on your end."

Both Carlos and Horace were stunned by that sudden submission from the stubborn King.

Carlos had not finished explaining the details yet so he asked a bit reluctantly, "You don't want to listen to the rest of the plan, Your Majesty?"

Reginald waved off his hand and said with an uninterested look on his face, "No. You are the one who will be leading the war, not me. I will just enjoy the horse ride along with you all. So, I think it is enough if you know the plan."

Horace wanted to say that it was the King who was responsible for leading and executing the war. But he stopped himself thinking that the war would be a lost cause if King Reginald was to lead it.

Carlos looked at Horace hoping that he would enlighten the ignorant King. But he saw the defeated look on the Chief Advisor's face and he also kept quiet. If being the Head General meant shouldering more than half of the responsibility of the Kingdom, then he was ready to do so. He did not want the glorious Kingdom of Mihir to suffer because of the ignorance of the current King.

Just when Carlos and Horace thought that the meeting was over, Reginald dropped an explosive on them.

"Head General, why don't you prepare a squad of my Royal Guards?" Reginald stretched his arms and added, "I want to take a quick tour of the Kingdom that is soon going to be mine."

Carlos flared his nose and inhaled deeply. He glanced at Horace again for the support. He was already tired of dealing with the King.

Horace understood the meaning behind the gaze and finally broke his silence, "Your Majesty, I don't think that is appropriate. If you-"

Reginald instantly frowned knowing what he was going to say. So he clarified further, "I am not saying that I want to go there with the full procession. I just want to run there in disguise. I will return back after roaming around for a while. I just want to see how that said Kingdom looks like, especially the people."

Horace tried really hard to not sound rude and replied to the King, "Your Majesty if you go that Kingdom with your guards then you are bound to look suspicious. Someone might even recognize you. And if words spread and the news of your arrival reaches the Palace, then our whole war plan might be jeopardized. They might suspect that Mihir is planning something big."

But Reginald was not going to listen to anything that Horace was going to say. Rather he was angered by that old man constantly trying to step on his thrills. So he glared at the Chief Advisor and said with finality, "I am going there tonight."

He glared at Carlos with his burning red eyes and ordered, "Prepare the Royal guards and everything that is necessary for my little trip."