She Belongs To The Devil

It was the next morning, and the first thing that King Dragomir did was after waking up at 4 was to summon Adeline to his quarter. He knew that Adeline always woke up early and as there were a lot of things to do today, he called her immediately after waking up.

"Princess Adeline, are you awake? I have an order from His Majesty to bring you to His Majesty's quarter."

Adeline was not that happy when someone came knocking at the door that early. But she still answered without trying to sound rude, "Okay, I will be there. You don't have to wait for me." 

Theodore was still asleep by her side and she was also deep in her sleep until she heard the knock that was as loud as banging. The two of them had only fallen asleep a while ago because they were busy expressing their love for each other and Adeline had shared most of the things that happened in the test.

She excluded embarrassing details as well as details that would have made Theodore angry. Like, she didn't tell him how the fake Theodore had ordered the Ghoul to kill her or how Azriel had asked to meet her again to seal her demonic power. In fact, she excluded as many things as possible about Azriel.

Adeline reluctantly sat up on her bed and then gazed at Theodore with a smile on her face. She didn't want to wake him up but she didn't have a choice. She leaned down and kissed him and she whispered, "Theo, my father has called me to his quarter. I have to go."

Theodore wrinkled his nose and opened one of his eyes. And he complained, "What? But it's still dark! Why would your father call you so early?"

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with me being the future Queen… I guess." Adeline caressed Theodore's soft hair while looking at him apologetically for chasing him in the middle of his sleep.

Theodore didn't want to be a hindrance on her first day as the chosen one. So he quickly sat up and gave her a warm kiss before he vanished from the room.

Adeline rushed to the bathhouse and quickly freshened up. She was still in her training uniform that she had not changed for two days. But she didn't care about that and just dashed towards her father's quarter. It had been a good while since the messenger had left and she didn't want to keep her father waiting.

And as soon as Adeline entered her father's chamber, she was welcomed with a warm hug from her dearest father.

King Dragomir's eyes were full of tears. And he happily praised his daughter, "I am so proud of you, Adeline. I can happily die now that you have become the successor to my throne."

Adeline pulled herself away with a frown on her face and scolded her father, "Father! How can you even talk about dying? I want you to live a very long and healthy life. And I am just sixteen, I still have so much to learn from you."

She pouted and then said in a sad tone, "Don't even think about abandoning me. I will never forgive you if you do that."

Dragomir laughed and brushed that matter aside. And then he briefed Adeline on the plan for today.

"Adeline, I called you to let you know that you are going to be very busy today. I will soon send a messenger to announce to everyone in the Palace that you have been selected as the Future Queen. Those who have not greeted you will come to your quarter to congratulate you."

"After the breakfast, I will send someone to fetch you to the King's Court. There the councilmen and the high-ranking officials will be gathered so that they can greet you."

"Till then, I will send the messengers to announce to the villagers that their future Queen has been selected. And after the meeting in the Court, there will be a procession to let the villagers know how the Future Queen looks like."

"And in the evening, there will be a banquet to celebrate the Future Queen of Wyverndale."

Adeline heaved a sigh after hearing her plan for the day. And she gave a questioning glance to her father, "Can we even finish so many things in one day?"

Dragomir laughed while looking at the doubtful face of Adeline. He caressed his daughter's hair and said, "We have to finish it in one day. Being a Queen is not going to be easy. You have a very tough road ahead. But I am sure that you can overcome every hurdle and become the greatest first Queen."

Adeline smiled and hugged her father again. And she expressed her gratitude towards her father, "Thank you for providing opportunities to daughters as well. I only succeeded because of your impartial treatment and proper guidance."

Dragomir felt happy that his decision to include daughters in the pool of candidates for future ruler had paid off well. If he had not taken the initiative to do so, then he would have regretted seeing his daughter's talent going to waste.

After a short conversation, Adeline returned back to her room to find Hawisa and Osanna waiting for her. They still had not heard the result of the test so they were looking at the Princess with hopeful eyes.

Hawisa asked as she ran to Adeline's side, "Adeline, how did the test go? Why did his Majesty call you? Was it to share the result?"

Adeline kept a straight face and tried her best to hide her smile. She wanted to keep the tension in the air for a while. So she gave a serious glance to her personal maids and then took a deep breath in before saying, "I have to say something to both of you."

Adeline took a long pause and Osanna nudged Adeline, unable to take the silence anymore, "What do you have to say to us? Say it fast, please."

Adeline still maintained her serious look and said, "From now on, the two are going to be serving the… Future Queen."

Osanna squinted her eyes and protested, "Future Queen? Who is that? I am not serving anyone else other than you."

Hawisa gave a whack at the back of Osanna's head and stared at Adeline with pride, "Guess who?"

Osanna's eyes and jaw widened in realization and then she jumped towards Adeline and wrapped her in a tight hug. And Hawisa also joined the hug. The three of them began to cry while embracing each other.

Hawisa and Osanna had dedicated their whole life to Adeline and knowing that she was going to be the Queen in the future, their happiness knew no bounds. Those two could not even put their happiness into words. They just kept on crying.. And Adeline understood how proud they were of her without them saying a word.