She Belongs To The Devil

And almost instantly one name came to Adeline's mind, "Lillian! Who else could make something invisible and smuggle it outside this Palace? She couldn't go after me; so did she decide to go after my pet instead?"

She clutched her fists and she could feel her blood boiling in her veins. She was so done with the drama of Lillian. And she gritted from between her teeth, "I am going to beat the information out of her. I am done putting up with the troubles she stirs, and I am done seeing the other way even when I know all the crimes that she has committed till now."

She turned on her heels and began to walk in the direction of Lillian's quarter. She had taken a few steps and the stableman who had gone to the race track came running to the Princess. "Your Highness." Adeline turned behind and saw the stableman.

"Your Highness, I found a letter in the racing ground. I think it was left for you, it has your name on it." He was waving a small envelope in his hand and was running as fast as he could.

Adeline could not wait to read what was written in that letter so she also walked towards that stableman. She held out her hand to grab that letter.

As soon as the letter was in her hand, she thanked that stableman and sent him away. Then she broke the seal and took out the letter and opened it.

She read the letter that said, "We have your dear horse in our custody. If you want to see him alive then meet us in the forest behind the Palace at 6 in the evening. We have drawn the exact location behind this letter."

Adeline turned the letter behind to see the location. The kidnapper had pinpointed a location at the edge of the private forest of the Palace.

And she turned the letter to read the rest of the content. "And do not tell any living soul about this. If we hear the footsteps of more than one person coming to the location, we will instantly kill your horse and run away. If we get caught, we will make sure that your horse dies, sooner or later. So beware not to tell anyone. And come alone."

Adeline crushed the letter furiously as soon as she finished reading it. It was already quarter to six so she stormed off towards the back gate of the Palace that would lead her to the forest.

And while on the way, she was thinking who could have done that and why.

"I don't think Lillian would have written this letter just to lure me to the forest. If she wants then she can easily sneak inside my own quarter. And she wouldn't have threatened to kill Rion, she would have done that first and would have sent his head to me if she wanted something from me."

"Who are these 'we' then?" Adeline was unable to control her anger and she began to shout while banging her feet towards the forest. "Why do people think that they can target me? Why and how do I keep on making enemies even though I try not to anger anyone? Why do so many unfortunate things keep on happening to me?"

Adeline unfolded the letter again and went through everything that was written there, and she also tried to check if she recognized that handwriting.

Though she did not recognize the handwriting, she was sure about one thing, "Whoever they are, they seem awfully worried about getting caught, meaning they have never done this kind of thing before. Then they should be easy to handle… I doubt that there are too many people for me to fight alone."

Adeline knitted her brows in tune and whispered to herself, "But why would they call me in the forest? Why call me here if they are so worried about getting caught? It is so near to the Palace and the chances of getting caught by the Royal Guards are high. Are they that stupid?"

She was so used to the evil plots of the conniving Queen already that she was not even taking the 'we' seriously.

Adeline reached to the back gate of the Palace. As it was inside the Palace, the gate wouldn't be heavily guarded.

Adeline stopped in front of a guard and then asked him, "Did you see my horse escaping to the forest from this gate? Or did you see someone leading my horse from here?"

"No, Your Highness," that guard answered her.

And Adeline asked again, "Then did anybody went to the forest a while ago? Anybody from the Palace, to be more specific."

The guard answered, "A few of the Royal Guards went to the dungeon with some criminals. But other than them, nobody crossed this gate today."

"Thank you!" Adeline breathed out in frustration and walked towards the forest.

And Adeline thought to herself, "How did they manage to take Rion from stable to the forest without being seen by the guards, by the way? Do they have a witch among them? I should be more careful if they do."

Till now, Adeline was banging her feet on the crunchy dead leaves and was making her presence known because she was extremely annoyed. But she did not want her emotions to get the better of her.

If they had a witch, then she could get magic attacks. Although the chances of magic working on her were almost zero, she still wanted to be cautious. So she calmed herself down and began to tiptoe so that she could sneak up on the kidnappers and beat them to a pulp.

When she was halfway through the forest, she heard the sound of a twig snapping in distance. She stopped on her track and then looked around to check where that sound was coming from.

Again, she heard the sound of something zooming towards her but she was slow by a second. She felt a sting on her neck. She touched her neck to find a needle-like thing but before she could pull it out, she started to feel lightheaded. Her vision started to blur. And in the next moment, she fell straight on the stack of leaves.