She Belongs To The Devil

The birds began to sing the songs near Adeline's window. They were welcoming the dawn as usual. Adeline abruptly opened her eyes after hearing the birds chirping loudly. She immediately turned to her side but Theodore's side of the bed was still empty.

She frowned and thought, "He didn't come here at all?" And in the next moment, her heart was filled with fear, "Did something bad happen to him?"

Her heart began to palpitate as she was engulfed with anxiety. Her hands turned cold within a few seconds. She wished that she had the ring. That way at least she could make him appear in front of her, wherever he was.

She sat up on the bed and rubbed her palm over her heart to calm it down. She took in a few deep breaths but it didn't seem to work. The knot in her stomach was not going away.

Adeline pinched herself on both of her cheeks really hard. And she consoled herself, "Adeline! He is the Devil Prince. You don't have to be worried about him so much. He can take care of himself."

But a few frown lines appeared on her forehead. And she whispered worriedly, "But there are those who are stronger than him. What if someone attacked him? What if he is lying unconscious somewhere?"

The anxiety was getting to her. The trauma of having to separate from Theodore for two years had not left her mind at all. And even when she did not see him just for a day, she got this feeling that something was going to happen and the two of them would be separated again.

"I think I should just head to the training ground and keep my mind occupied," she thought to herself and abruptly got out of her bed.

Adeline hurriedly changed into her battle armors and then headed off towards the training ground.

She had a lot in her mind. All that anger and anxiety that were built up inside of her took the better of her and she ended up fighting with Raphael with all her might. She went to strike him even when he was already cornered.

"Hey, hey! Are you trying to kill me, dear sister? Or did I do something to anger you?" Raphael was stretching his neck away from the tip of Adeline's sword.

Adeline then snapped out of her need to destroy something and threw her sword away. She apologized to Raphael, "Raph, I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I did not mean to corner you like this. I…" she wanted to share what was happening in her life recently but she ended up tearing up instead.

"Ade, what happened? Are you okay?" Raphael asked with a bewildered expression on his face after seeing his sister trying hard to control her tears.

And as though that question had triggered her, Adeline began crying hysterically. She did not care if her guards were watching her. She had to let out the pent-up emotion that was eating her since yesterday.

"Adeline…" Raphael immediately wrapped his sister in a hug. He did not ask her to stop crying. He did not ask her any more questions. He could guess that Adeline was really having a hard time. So he just kept on stroking her back and let her cry to her heart's content.

Adeline calmed down after crying for quite some time. She felt somewhat relieved after emptying the negative emotions in her heart. She wiped her tears and sat down on the ground. Raphael also sat down beside her and kept on waiting for her to speak up on her own.

She, on the other hand, really wished that Nigel was here.

Before, Adeline used to have Nigel by her side. The two shared each other's secrets and they relied on each other during difficult times. They used to have each other's back. But she did not have her dearest brother by her side anymore. And she missed him really badly.

Especially after she went through so many downs in the past two years, she really wanted Nigel by her side. She wanted to share everything that happened to her. And she wanted to share everything that was happening to her. She wanted her brother to comfort her and say that everything was going to be okay soon. But she could not do any of those things.

She didn't have a single person with whom she could share everything without worrying about them turning against her.

Her eyes teared up again. She missed her dearest brother more than she could handle.

As she was about to break down again, she felt a warm hand on her head.

Raphael ruffled Adeline's silver hair and said in a loving voice, "Ade, you know that you can share everything with me, right? You don't have to endure every hardship all by yourself. You don't have to carry the heavyweight on your small head. You can share the burden with me."

Adeline turned to look at Raphael and gave him a weak smile. Even though Raphael was the closest to her after Nigel, she never opened up to him like she used to do with Nigel. She feared that one day, Raphael would also leave her just like Nigel and she did not want to end up losing yet another person.

But as Raphael said, it was already too hard for her to contain all of her problems in her little head. She needed to share it with someone.

Hence, she asked him, "Raph, can I trust you with my secrets? No matter how wild and bizarre they sound?"

Raphael nodded his head and replied reassuringly, "Yes, of course. I will protect your secret with my life. So you can tell me everything that is bothering you. I don't want you falling sick because of the emotional burden."

Adeline glanced at her guards and then gestured them to leave them alone. The guards followed the Princess's order and waited outside the training ground.

And after they were out of sight, Adeline began sharing everything from the beginning. Leaving the secret about Nigel, she shared everything about Theodore, about Lillian, about their father's worsening health, and also why she had run away from the Palace that day.

Raphael listened to everything that his sister shared in awe. Like she had warned before, everything sounded so bizarre and out of the world that it was almost hard to believe. If Adeline had not cried before sharing her secrets, then he would have believed that Adeline was just trying to pull his leg.

He didn't even know what to say or not to say. All the information was too much to process in a few hours.

So, instead of commenting on what Adeline shared, he offered to help her, "You said that Queen Lillian could be imprisoned with the help of other witches, right? Then go and change into a disguise. Let's go to visit those witches. We cannot let such a monstrous person like Lillian roam freely for any longer."

Adeline gave a huge grin and nodded her head. "Yes, let's do that.." She was grateful that he was not judging her and was rather offering to help her out.