She Belongs To The Devil

After finishing her breakfast, Adeline was summoned to the King's Court again. Her guards were now ordered to never leave her alone. So even though the King's Court was just five minutes away from Adeline's quarter, she was escorted by a fully armored and armed squad of soldiers.

When Adeline walked inside the door of the King's Court, all the councilmen and other high-ranking officials got up from their respective seats and bowed their heads to the Queen-to-be.

Adeline would now hold the power as any Crown Princess would. In terms of power, she was now the second most powerful person of Wyverndale. She would still need to bow to the three Queens because of seniority but their place was now already lower than Adeline's in terms of the power hierarchy.

A special throne was already prepared for Adeline in the King's Court. It was placed beside the King's throne. Adeline walked as calmly as she could towards the platform. She bowed to the King and then elegantly took her throne by her father's side.

After Adeline settled down, King Dragomir gestured to everyone in the room to settle down. And then he formally introduced Adeline to them, "I have called this gathering to formally introduce you all to the one who was chosen by the Dragon Immortal."

He pointed his palm to his side and continued, "I announce to you all that Adeline, my last born daughter, will assume the position of the Reigning Queen of Wyverndale after my retirement from the position as the King."

After he said that, the councilmen and the officials began to climb the platform one by one in order to introduce themselves and the position they were holding.

Adeline tried her best to remember all of their names. She already knew most of the councilmen since some of them were her teachers. But she didn't know any of the officials as she had never been given any tasks related to the administrative part of the Kingdom.

It took almost one and a half hours for everyone to introduce themselves to Adeline.

After the introduction was over, Dragomir invited his daughter to his own quarter to have lunch together. It had been a while since the two of them sat down together and had lunch. So both of them enjoyed their time. Adeline shared about the test while Dragomir shared about their understanding between the Dragon Immortal and them.

She came to know that the main source of food for the Dragons of the Dragon Crypt was the animals and crops that they sent from the Kingdom.

Dragomir wiped his mouth and said, "You may rest for fifteen minutes. Till then, I will ask the ceremonial carriage to be ready for the procession."

"Sure, father. I will be in my quarter then." Though Adeline was already tired from wearing that fitting gown and smiling at around a hundred people already, she still tried to keep up her high spirit.

Before she left the dining room, Dragomir said, "I will send some presents to you. Be sure to wear them for the procession."

Adeline perked up after hearing the mention of presents. And she replied with a huge smile, "I will. Thank you, father."

Adeline was escorted back to her quarter by her guards. A maid came to her room right after and handed her two packages. Adeline took it to her private chamber and then opened them.

In a large package, she found a ceremonial mantle that looked somewhat similar to King Dragomir's royal robe. The mantle was red in color with white fur on the collar. And on the back, a picture of Dragon was embroidered with golden thread.

And in another small package, there was a golden hairpin. It had a beautiful design of a peacock. And there was a small note attached to it which read, "This belonged to your mother. She wanted me to give this to you on your eighteenth birthday but I think this is a more appropriate time. I hope you will cherish it."

The rim of her eyes glistened with tears as she pressed that hairpin on her chest.

She called in her personal maids. Hawisa helped her with her mantle. And Osanna put the hairpin at the side of her silver hair. Both the maids looked at the Princess in awe.

"The gifts from your parents really suits you well. Now you really look like a Queen," Hawisa commented with a huge grin on her face.

Adeline was called again as the procession was about to begin. Her guards escorted her to the front gate where a decorated carriage was waiting for her. Four beautiful horses were tied to the carriage.

King Dragomir was already sitting on the carriage. He wanted to accompany his daughter in the procession so that she wouldn't feel anxious because of the crowd. He held out his hand for Adeline to get on the carriage. After the father and daughter were all settled, two of the Royal bodyguards climbed at the back of the carriage.

A squad of soldiers rode ahead on their horses. And the carriage followed those soldiers. Behind the carriage, another squad of soldiers followed the carriage on their horses. And behind that two squads of foot soldiers joined the procession.

Adeline began feeling nervous when they were approaching the village. She could see the crowds of the villagers who were standing on both sides of the roads, waiting to catch a glimpse of their future Queen. The crowd was being controlled by the guards from the Palace.

Dragomir glanced at his daughter who was starting to take deep breaths. He smiled and held his daughter's hand, "Don't worry, they are going to love you." And he advised her, "Smile at the people and wave your hands at them. After a minute, you will get used to the crowd."

As her father had advised her, Adeline looked at the crowd with a smile on her face and waved at them. And needless to say, the crowd went mad when she smiled and waved.

Adeline heard someone from behind shouting excitedly, "Oh my god, she just smiled at me!"

And some teenagers shouted, "She is so pretty." 

"Yeah, she looks like a goddess walking among us mortals," another one added.

A girl pointed at Adeline and said to her mother, "I want to be like her when I grow up."

Adeline was now genuinely smiling at the people. She felt happy to hear those positive comments from the spectators.

"See, I told you they would like you," Dragomir whispered to Adeline with a huge grin on his face.

Adeline just kept on smiling even though her cheeks were hurting.. Everything that was happening right now felt surreal to her, surreal in a good way.