She Belongs To The Devil

Adeline still acted as though she had no knowledge about how Edwin really was as a person, and said, "But why would Edwin do such things like extorting people and getting back at people? I don't want to believe that he is that cruel."

Alan looked at his sister and felt sorry for her innocence. He could not blame her for her innocent thought about Edwin because her contact with the elder brothers and sisters was practically non-existent after they completed their training. Even though they all lived inside the same compound, inside the Palace walls, they would barely see each other as everyone was busy with their own things.

He thought that she had no idea how everyone had become after completing their training. "I guess you haven't met him in a while, so you might not know how much he has changed. He does not back away from doing anything."

"I don't know what took over him. I have to warn you sister, he has hurt a lot of people just because they spoke against him. And I don't want you to be sharing the same fate as those poor souls." Alan was staring at Adeline with eyes full of care and worry towards her.

And Adeline, even though she did not want to fully trust Alan's intention behind giving her all this information, she felt as though Alan was really worried about her.

He always had been the nice one, he would always try to come in between Edwin and Adeline whenever Edwin would try to hurt Adeline during their training days. And Adeline wanted to believe that Alan had not changed since then.

"So you followed me to stop me from going to the King's Court? And you don't want me to report back to father that Edwin has been extorting the innocent villagers?" Adeline was puckering her lips and waiting for Alan's answer.

Alan nodded his head and said, "Yes. But don't misunderstand me by thinking that I am asking that of you to protect my own brother from getting caught and punished by the King. I am asking you to not reveal that so that you wouldn't invite that psychopath brother of mine to harm you."

Adeline massaged the bridge of her nose because her head was starting to hurt listening to all the things that Alan told her. She already had Lillian in her life, who was enough to give her a constant headache. And now she had one more person to be cautious about.

And she said in a frustrated voice, "I didn't know that Edwin had turned out to be like that. Yes, he was rude to me sometimes but I just thought that it was because our father was biased towards me. I mean Margery and Muriel were always picking on me because our father loved me more than everyone else. I thought the deal was the same with Edwin as well."

"But this, this I had not even imagined in my dreams. Why would any Prince or Princess want to extort their own citizens and degrade their own reputation in front of them? In the end, isn't it our citizen's safety and happiness that we all want? So why terrorize them ourselves?"

Adeline was more than frustrated at Edwin. She had no idea what he was trying to achieve by doing all that illegal things, but what she knew was that Edwin was now a threat to the Kingdom's peace. He was deliberately bringing chaos to that peaceful village so she thought that he was no less than an enemy of the Kingdom.

"I don't know what goes on inside that brain of his. Our Kingdom and our subject should be our priority but maybe some people just want to ruin everything that the others have taken years and years to build." It was clear that even Alan was frustrated because of his brother.

"So, we should just leave him be and let him ruin what our father has built over the course of 3-4 decades? Won't we be equally guilty if we just keep quiet and turn a blind eye on the ongoing crime?" Adeline didn't like the idea of just letting Edwin keep on terrorizing the villagers fearing he might do something to her.

But then again, it was not just herself whom she would be putting in danger, it was also the villagers who were already enduring Edwin's atrocity.

Alan shook his head and said, "I am not suggesting to let Edwin keep on carrying out his atrocity." He glanced at Adeline, whom he still thought of as a kid, and said, "I just don't want you to be entangled in this matter. It is too dangerous for you."

Alan obviously had no idea that Adeline was already used to more dangerous things than Edwin.

He tried to clarify that he was not going to stay idle and keep on watching the monstrosity of his brother, "I have been trying to think of a way to stop Edwin from carrying out such devious deeds but as you can see I have been failing."

Alan gave a sorrowful look to Adeline and shared that he was not turning a blind eye to Edwin's actions. "First I tried talking with Edwin himself, I tried to make him reflect into his own actions and hoped that he would stop. But I was foolish to even think that."

And he further revealed his true purpose behind going to the village, "And today, I went to the village to see for myself what the officers and guards were doing to the villagers. It was a tough sight to bear so I turned the villagers against those tax officers and guards. I don't know if I did a good thing or made it even worse for the villagers, but at least those puppets of Edwin will be afraid to go to the village now."

Adeline finally smiled at that brave act of Alan. She was really happy to know that it was Alan who had pushed the villagers to fight back. "You did a good thing brother. Fear is our worst enemy, it won't allow us to take our stand against evil. But you managed to snuff out the fear from the heart of the villagers and gave them the courage to fight back.. So, I say that you did a good thing."