She Belongs To The Devil

Adeline took a deep breath in to try to slow down her heartbeat. But the pressure was too extreme for her to be able to calm down. Her breath staggered even more. She was just given the last riddle and she only remembered half of it. And to top that, the time seemed to be passing very quickly.

She was pretty confident regarding her previous answers so she had to solve this last one in order to level up to the final part of the test.

She shut her eyes and tried to recall whatever she remembered. "It is dark and cold. It cannot move. It lives on Earth… And we can find treasures and history in it…" She scratched her head anxiously and thought of an answer, "Library? But why would a library be cold and dark…"

And in the next moment, her eyes beamed. "Cold and dark…" She recalled the first part of the test where she had found herself, she had found herself in the cold and dark place. "Of course!"

Finally, Adeline looked at Azriel with confident eyes and answered, "The answer is Cave."

Until now, Azriel was maintaining a very serious and straight face which was getting very hard for him. And immediately after Azriel heard the answer, he let out a huge sigh and leisurely leaned back on his chair.

And he scolded Adeline in a childish voice, "Were you planning to give me a heart attack, last-born? What is it with you and giving answers in the last three seconds? No, for one of the riddles you pushed it to the very last second! Do you know how anxious I was?"

Adeline was very confused with that sudden tantrum from the Dragon Immortal. But she bowed to her Deity for making him uncomfortable and apologized, "I am sorry, Dragon Immortal. The riddles were confusing. But may I know why did that make you so anxious?"

"Anxious? Who said I was anxious?" Azriel fisted over his mouth and then coughed. And he turned his gaze away as though he just realized that he had scolded Adeline out loud. Then he began to whistle while looking everywhere except at Adeline. "I hope I don't look suspicious," he thought.

Adeline was staring at her Deity and was trying to figure him out, "Why is he so unpredictable? One moment he is all serious and Godly, and the next moment he acts like a… child."

Adeline kept on waiting for the Dragon Immortal to say whether she had passed this level or not. There was an awkward silence in the room for quite a while. Azriel seemed to be lost in his own world and Adeline was unsure whether it was right for her to ask him or not.

After some time, she got restless and she broke the silence, "Dragon Immortal, sorry to interrupt your thought but I wanted to know if I passed or failed this level."

Azriel finally glanced at Adeline and asked, "What? I didn't tell you?"

"No, you didn't," Adeline gave a mirthless smile to her forgetful Deity. She felt as though he was hiding something from her. But she didn't dare question him.

Azriel gave out a nervous laugh and said, "I thought I told you already!" He flipped his golden hair with his hand and gave a bright smile. Then he said, "You are already in the fourth and final level of the test. Congratulations!"

Adeline looked around her to check the setting. But they were still in the same room. And she pointed it out thinking Azriel had forgotten that as well, "But we are in the same room, Dragon Immortal."

Azriel waved his hand and said while smiling, "Oh, we can do the last level here." Then he gave a questioning glance to Adeline, "Or did you want to go somewhere else? Should I create another space for this level as well?"

"Er…" Adeline was dumbfounded when the Deity offered to create a separate space for her. But she instantly shook her head and said, "No, Dragon Immortal. Because we were changing the location with each level, I thought that we would… please excuse me for asking that. The location doesn't matter if it is fit for the next level."

Adeline already knew that it would be fit for the final level as well.

Azriel assumed his serious position again and asked, "Can we start this level then? Are you ready?"

Adeline took a deep breath in and then took a moment to relish that she had actually reached the final level of the Test of Worthiness. She confidently glanced at the Dragon Immortal and said, "We can start this level, Dragon Immortal."

---

Other than Adeline, all the other Princes who had reached the third level of the test had also reached the final level of the test. They were Alan, Raphael, Edwin, and Nigel.

Nigel had planned to fail the test as early as possible. He thought that he would fail in the second level itself because by the end of the test, his survival mode had kicked in and he had transformed into a wolf. He was also being tossed around by Azriel, not in his dragon form but in his usual form itself. But that was enough for Nigel to fight back with everything that he had.

And as he had exposed his wolf form to the Deity, Nigel had thought that he would not be further considered for the test as he was not a pure human being. And he thought that the Deity would not want a cursed being to sit on the throne of Wyverndale.

However, nothing of that sort happened and he leveled up to the third level. Nigel planned to fail here but instead, he ended up solving the riddles quicker than the other Princes and Adeline. He was too immersed in the riddles and by the time he came to his senses and thought that he would give the wrong answer to the next riddle, he had already passed the level.

Now, the five of them were going to compete in this final level for the throne of Wyverndale.