She Belongs To The Devil

Adeline slowly fluttered her eyes open. It took a few blinks for her eyes to regain focus. She stared at the ceiling for a while. The texture on the rocks looked clearer for some reason. And somehow, she could also focus her eyes to see inside the slight cracks in between the rocks.

"I wonder how my eyesight improved." She trailed her eyes around and she was amazed by how vibrant the colors looked than before. She could see colors that she never knew existed.

"Is it the side effect of that circle breaking? I hope nothing bad happened."

She could see a faint purple aura that was hovering around her. Soon, her attention was caught by the golden aura that was hovering around in the room.

Her eyes followed the golden aura to the far corner of the room that she was in.

"Azriel?" she thought to herself while looking at the Dragon Immortal who was sitting on a chair. He was resting his chin on his palm and was sleeping peacefully.

"Where are the others?" She thought and looked around the room but there was no trace of Theodore, nor the Goddess.

She took in a deep breath and placed her palm over her chest. She could no longer feel the pain that was there a while ago. "It looks like Azriel mended the magic circle again," she thought to herself and wondered why Theodore didn't take her back to the Palace with him.

She sat up on the bed, feeling more energetic than ever. She looked at Azriel again to wake him up. But he looked like he was so deep in his sleep that she didn't feel like disturbing him.

She sighed and began fidgeting her fingers. Suddenly, she recalled the insurmountable amount of pain that she went through after Azriel had warned her.

Adeline felt uneasy in her heart just by recalling that pain. She had felt as though thousands of knives had been plunged into her heart all at once. And that pain coursed through her veins as though the blades of swords were moving through her while cutting and burning her everywhere.

She shuddered from that memory and her whole body was covered in goosebumps. "I hope I will never have to go through that kind of pain ever again," she thought while rubbing her shoulders.

Adeline then furrowed her brows and tried to think past that pain. But there was nothing that she remembered after a certain point. "Did I pass out? I must have…"

She looked at her sound asleep brother-in-law and wondered, "Is he sleeping because it's night already? I wonder how long I was out cold for."

Adeline waited for a while hoping that Azriel would wake up on his own, or that Theodore would come to take her back. But she got bored of waiting within a matter of a few minutes. So she coughed loudly, hoping to get Azriel's attention.

Azriel was instantly on his feet the moment he heard Adeline coughing. And in the next moment, he was pressing his palm over Adeline's forehead.

Adeline was a little surprised by that sudden 'attack' from Azriel.

He heaved a sigh of relief thinking, "The fever is finally gone." And he took Adeline's hand in his palm to check her pulse. "How do feel now? Are you in any kind of pain?" he asked with a tensed look on his face.

Adeline didn't understand what was there to be so worried about. "Er… I feel fine."

"You were unconscious for two days straight. You scared all of us, especially Theodore and your father." Azriel said with a frown.

"What?" Adeline was shocked to hear that. "I was unconscious for two whole days? Where's Theodore? I need to go back to the Palace."

Adeline was going to jump out of the bed so Azriel pressed her shoulder and made her stay put on the bed. "Theodore is taking care of everything in the Palace, training, paperwork, everything. You don't need to worry about those things right now. You should worry about yourself."

"Oh, is that so…" Adeline's lips curved up a little knowing that Theodore was covering for her with the works. "Father knows that I am here?"

Azriel nodded and scanned his eyes on Adeline for any signs of discomfort in her. And he asked again because he was unconvinced, "Are you sure you are completely fine now? Our mother had to use her magic to keep you from shivering. Your body was not readily accepting the change."

Adeline furrowed her brows because she didn't understand what he meant by her body was going through change. All she knew was that she was completely fine now.

However, Azriel was still giving her that worried look so Adeline gave a smile to him and said again, "For real, I feel alright. In fact, I feel far better than before. I can't pinpoint it but I think I feel kind of…" she pumped her fist and said dramatically, "powerful."

Azriel chuckled at that reaction from Adeline and gently patted her on the head. And then he added with all seriousness, "You are powerful, alright. You are now a changeling after all."

"Changeling?" Adeline curled up her brows and asked, "What's that? Did something bad happen to me?"

Azriel squinted his eyes and shook his head, "It's not bad. It means you are now a higher being than a human. To be more precise, you are now a human who is changing into a demon."

Adeline felt a hammering in her chest. She kept on staring at Azriel with wide eyes, not really knowing how to react to that statement. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad. She didn't know if that meant she was turning into some kind of a monster like a vampire or maybe even something worse than that.

"I'm changing into de-demon? How? Why? Since when?" Adeline's face was full of question marks.

Azriel sat on the chair beside the bed and broke the news to her, "According to our mother, you began to change after the unification ritual in your wedding. That ritual wasn't there for no reason or just for the show. It does actually merge the couple's soul together."

"And now I am a half-demon?" Adeline asked, her brows never resting in their original position.

"Correct," Azriel nodded his head.

A few frown lines appeared in between Adeline's brows and she asked again, "Then does that mean Theodore is now half-human?"

Azriel laughed at the thought of Theodore changing into a half-human. "That would be fun. But no. He is still a Devil."

Adeline pressed her lips together and nodded. She was thankful that their unification ritual didn't adversely affect Theodore. If he was to grow weaker because of her then she would have felt like an eclipse in Theodore's life.

Suddenly, something stroke her mind. "Wait!" She glanced at Azriel with her curious eyes and asked, "What about the seal? Did you seal it back or…"

She was staring into Azriel's blue star-like eyes. She was able to zoom in on the magnificent glowing hue of his eyes and she completed her question, "or did you break the seal completely?"