She Belongs To The Devil

0Edwin, Raphael, and Tabitha were sitting down in a room with their Queen and their Prince Consort. They gave the details of the bloodbath caused by Lillian to Adeline and Theodore.     2

Adeline was sad as well as proud of Joyce when she heard that her niece was the one who got rid of that evil witch.     

Adeline looked at Joyce and Juniper who were playing outside in the garden and asked, "Is Joy alright? I mean, she seems okay but... is she?"     

And Edwin also looked out of the window and replied to Adeline, "Jun said that she didn't let Joy see the dead body after Joy killed that witch. But she did see Cerberus taking away that witch's body and soul. So we told her that it was Cerberus who killed her grandmother and not her. I think it is better that way."     

Adeline nodded her head and sighed.     

And Theodore agreed to what Edwin had said, "It is better that way. Carrying the burden of someone's death would have been too much for her young mind."     

"Yes, let's try and protect her from that bitter truth," Adeline also agreed to the two of them. "A child like her should not live with the guilt that she took someone's life."     

After talking with them for some more, Adeline and Theodore then went in search of General Keith to know how he was handling the aftermath of the attack.     

They found him near the back gate of the Palace. He was ordering the soldiers to make sure that none of the prisoners of the dungeon had escaped during the chaos caused by Lillian.     

And the bodies of the brave soldiers who went to face that dangerous dark witch and lost their lives in the process had already been gathered in one place.     

After talking with the General about the state of the Palace, Adeline gave General Keith the news that Wyverndale had won the war.     

"General, let all the soldiers also know that we won the war. But before celebrating our victory, we have to prepare for the mourning of all our fallen soldiers. We might have won but we also lost a lot of our warriors."     

"When will the soldiers be returning?" Keith asked so as to get a tentative time that he had in hand before they would arrive in the capital.     

"I would say that they will reach here in three days. The witches and wizards should be healing the heavily injured ones as we speak." Adeline then gave out the order to the General, "So please make sure that we are ready to have them here by then. Make all the necessary preparations accordingly."     

"Yes, Your Majesty. I will start the preparations right away," Keith bowed to the Queen and went to find the others.     

After he went away, Adeline glanced at the distance, at the entrance of the dungeon.     

Theodore was standing beside her and was closely watching her expression. She looked sad and full of guilt. He was sure she had a lot of things in mind, probably she was cursing herself.     

So he put his arm around Adeline's shoulder and pulled her close. And in an attempt to take her away from all the traces of Lillian's attack, he asked her, "Let's go inside, Adeline. We need to get some rest."     

When Theodore said that they needed some rest, he really meant it, especially for himself. His body was still aching a lot from the battle he had with his father. But in all the rush, he didn't even get time to sit down properly.     

But Adeline was too drowned in her sorrow and guilt to even realize that her husband was at his limit to keep on standing or moving around.     

And she mumbled in a guilt-ridden voice, "I should have known that something like this would have happened if I kept that witch alive. I was too naïve to think that the barrier would stop that witch from getting out eventually."     

She clenched her fist in anger towards herself. And she started to spiral back to what she could have done differently. "I should have just slit her throat instead of going through all the trouble to capture her and imprison her."     

"Adeline, you did what you think was right at that time. You…" Theodore felt his knees shaking and he shifted his weight on Adeline's shoulder for support. But he instantly stood on his own. He was trying his best not to show that he was in pain.     

And Adeline was still unaware of Theodore's pain. She was staring at all the broken trees and splattered blood all around the forest.     

And she kept on taking out her frustration that she had towards herself, "I was a coward. I was afraid of having blood on my hand."     

Adeline felt like laughing at her younger self. "But now I have killed countless living beings… vampires, humans, and even a werewolf."     

"Everyone has to kill the others in war, Adeline. That is the point of the war," Theodore spoke while he desperately tried not to sound as though he was hurting.     

"Yes." Adeline heaved a sigh and scoffed, "I was delusional to have thought that I could avoid killing the creatures with soul. I was too naïve to think that my sword would never taste blood when I was trained to kill since the first day of my training."     

Theodore gently rubbed his wife's shoulder and kept on listening to her.     

"And because of my cowardice at that time, and the wrong decision that I took, so many soldiers who didn't need to die have died today."     

The deaths that happened in the Palace were haunting Adeline more than the deaths that happened on the battlefield. Adeline ground her teeth and whispered, "I could have prevented all this if I had just done what I was trained to do – kill."     

"So many people died because I hesitated to kill that witch. And Azriel is in that state because I hesitated for a second." Drops of tears rolled down her eyes and she mumbled, "I did so many mistakes already. If this is the weight of the crown then it has already become heavier than I can handle."     

Theodore grunted and turned to face Adeline. He wiped her tears and consolingly said to her, "I am also to blame for all the deaths and for Azriel's condition. So don't take all the burden alone."     

However, Adeline felt so suffocated already after seeing all the deaths and after taking so many lives that for a split second, she felt like giving everything up and running away somewhere.     

"But I cannot abandon my people and my nation. That would be my greatest sin if I did that," she thought to herself in the very next instant.     

Suddenly, Theodore fell forward and his whole body weight was on Adeline.     

"Theodore!" Adeline held him in time and asked, "Are you awake?"     

"Mhmm…" Theodore tried to pull himself together but he couldn't. So he asked her, "Take me to the fountain. I thought I was okay but I…"     

"Shhh… Don't speak. I will take you there." Adeline kept on holding him tightly so that he wouldn't fall down.     

Rather than panicking, she cleared her mind and then pictured the fountain in her mind. She had already learned her lesson that hesitating to do something that was necessary was always going to bring problems to her in the future.     

And she would hate it even more if something bad happened to Theodore because she was late in taking him to the fountain. Yes, she did ask for happy and eternal life with Theodore but that didn't mean something couldn't go wrong.     

In her first try itself, Adeline was able to teleport to the cave. The garden was now empty. Arion and Agnes weren't there anymore.     

Adeline quickly led Theodore to the fountain and helped him sit down.     

"Ah! It's refreshingly cold." Theodore closed his eyes and dipped his whole body under the water.     

Adeline kept on holding Theodore's hand, ready to pull him out of the water if he stayed in there for too long.     

Adeline closely watched her husband's face and body. He didn't have any visible injuries. But she was sure that he got some internal injuries. She had gotten a taste of God's bolt and she knew it was not a joke.     

Adeline's brows started to tense when Theodore didn't come out of the water for quite some time.     

"Theodore…" she pressed his palm and called him.     

Theodore, on the other hand, had already healed. But he was stuck in a vision and thus kept on staying underwater.     

Adeline was now seriously worried. And she called him again, "Theo! Theo, can you hear me?"