Chapter 207 - Insecurity

"I only kept you close to me because you were my greatest source of that sweet aura."

"But you no longer desire revenge. You've grown weak. You are no longer useful to me."

"You weak human. Do you think I loved you? I can only love the strongest demoness like Lilith. You don't even deserve to be my maid."

"Adeline… Adeline… Wake up! Adeline!"

Adeline inhaled sharply and flung her eyes open when she heard Theodore desperately calling out for her and shaking her. The first thing that she noticed was a very worried look on Theodore who was towering a little above her face.

"Adeline, what happened?" He softly caressed Adeline's cheeks with the back of his hand to wipe her tears. "You have been shuddering and whimpering from a while ago. Did you have a nightmare?"

Adeline blinked a few times, trying to figure out whether this was a dream, an illusion, or a reality. She raised her hand and poked Theodore on his cheek. "This is not an illusion, right?" she asked softly.

Theodore held her palm and pressed it against his chest. She could feel his heart thumping very loudly. And he whispered to her, "I can guarantee that this is very much real."

But contrary to what Theodore had expected, Adeline began to punch him on his chest. She looked very angry at Theodore for some reason and she kept on throwing her fists at him.

As she had returned from the test, naturally Theodore assumed that she must have failed her test to be venting out her anger like this. And he did nothing to try and stop her. He just kept on leaning firmly over her, and let her use him as a sandbag.

She had managed to suppress the pain that she felt in the test of fearlessness, the pain that she had felt when the fake Theodore had told her that she was of no use to him because she was not emitting that aura that he desired.

But now that it repeated itself in her dream, the pain overtook her all over again.

Adeline didn't want to know whether Theodore had ever absorbed her aura or not. To be honest, she didn't mind if he did. She would be happy if she was one of his sources of power. The only thing that worried her was what if she was his greatest addiction and what if he tossed her away if she couldn't emanate the aura that he desired anymore?

And when she dreamt of him leaving her, she vented out her anger on Theodore, even though the dream wasn't his fault at all. It was born from the seed of her own doubts.

After she tired herself, she stopped beating him. And rather than calming down, Adeline covered her face with both of her palms and began to cry hysterically. The insecurities that she had bottled up inside of her broke the barrage and it flooded out of her as streams of tears.

Theodore felt a hammering in his heart seeing her crying like that. Yes, he had seen her cry before, but not like this. Her cry had so much pain in it that he felt a lump in his throat.

"Becoming the Queen was the main purpose in her life. I can understand that she is feeling this distraught," Theodore thought to himself. Little did he know that all of that display of anger and pain was because of something completely different.

He gulped to make that lump in his throat go away and tried to console the wailing Princess, "Adeline, tell me what I can do to make you-"

Theodore felt a sudden pull and his body slammed against her. His eyes widened as he had not expected that at all.

Adeline hugged him tightly and whispered, "Promise me that you will always love me, no matter what."

Theodore's lips curved around the corners. He lifted his head and gazed at the woman who was being very unpredictable today. One moment she would punch him as if she wanted to kill him and the next moment she would display affection.

He leaned down and pressed his lips against her dry lips. He kissed her with immense care and love. He kissed her ever so softly as if she was a fragile ceramic doll because he knew that she had gone through a lot in the test.

After her dry lips were moisturized, he whispered back in her ear, "You already know that I will always love you." He then got off from Adeline and lied down beside her. And he asked her politely, "Now tell me what happened in the test. Were you crying because you… failed?"

Adeline puckered her lips and averted her gaze away from Theodore. Now that she had calmed down and her mind was working properly, she felt embarrassed to tell the real reason why she was crying. What was she supposed to say? She was crying because he said he didn't love her anymore in her dream?

"Adeline?" Theodore's inquisitive gaze was not sparing her.

She completely ignored the question as to why she was crying and said with a proud grin, "Um… I was announced as the future Queen."

Theodore's eyes and jaw were wide open. She was crying her eyes out when she was announced the future Queen? She was full of surprises today.

He came out of his daze and praised her, "That's great news! You finally achieved your dream! I am really happy for you and really proud of you." And he gave a smooch to his talented fiancé.

But he couldn't help but ask again, "Then why were you crying like that? Did something bad happen in the test?" He narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep and serious voice, "Did your Deity do something to you?" He pointed at the chain that she was wearing and asked, "Did he forcefully make you wear that?"

Adeline furrowed her brows and looked down at her chain. "This? I bought this from the market on the day I bought that Devil figurine for you. Why do you think that he made me wear this?"

"Oh, nothing." Theodore was unsure how Azriel's magic object had managed to find its way to Adeline but he thought that his brother needed a visit from him.

Then he narrowed his eyes at Adeline and asked for the last time, "Then tell me what or who made you cry?"

There was no way Adeline could dodge this question now. So she sheepishly replied, "You said that I am a weak human and you said that you didn't want me anymore and-"

"What?" Theodore was dumbfounded by what she was saying. "When did I ever say such things to you?"

"You said it in my dream," Adeline pouted.

Theodore scoffed and kept on giving a look that said 'You turned me into a sandbag because I said something mean in your dream?'

Adeline's cheeks had already turned as red as apples because of embarrassment and Theodore suddenly pounced at Adeline and bit her cheek.

"Ahhh! Why are you biting me?" Adeline tried to push Theodore away.

He looked at her and whispered, "I am taking my revenge for earlier." And then he bit her another cheek and began nipping all over her neck.

Adeline was feeling ticklish and she begged for his mercy while giggling, "I am sorry! I was too mad at you. I won't throw a fit like that again."

"Saying sorry won't make any difference now," Theodore kept on kissing and nipping Adeline's lips, neck and chest. He had only been apart from her for one night and a day and that was enough for him to long for her as if he had not seen her for over a year.

Adeline tried resisting him at first but she ended up giving in to him.. He was the only one who could make this future Queen to completely submit to him.