Chapter 338 - A Missing Piece

After an hour of travel, they finally reached inside the safety of the Palace without any disturbances on the road. They had safely brought back the perpetrator.

King Dragomir was restlessly waiting by the gate of the Palace for all of them.

Adeline and the Princes got out of the carriage and then greeted the King.

"What happened to all of you?" Dragomir could tell from the state of the Royals and the guards that they were indeed in a fight. But he was unsure regarding the opponent as Edwin was also standing beside them and so were all the guards.

So he instantly shot several other questions towards Adeline, "Did you all engage in some fight on the way? Did someone attack you?" He then took a quick glance towards Lillian's carriage and asked, "You managed to capture Lillian, right?"

Adeline looked around to see that they were all surrounded by the councilmen and the Royal Guards.

She did not want to hide the opening of the gate of Hell from her father because Theodore had helped them a lot. And telling the true story could lift Theodore's image in her father's eyes. But she couldn't tell that in front of everyone.

So instead, she kept the answer short for now, "Lillian was quite a handful and all of us had to fight hard to restrain her. And yes, she is inside the carriage. She will have to stay there until her trial ends and until the witches put up another barrier in the dungeon."

Dragomir gave a proud smile to his daughter and patted her shoulder, "Well done, Adeline." He also glanced at Edwin and Raphael and praised both of them, "And I am happy that both of you aided your sister. Well done."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," all the three kids politely bowed their heads to the King for the praise.

Edwin was especially happy because his father had looked him in the eyes with pride and not with contempt and disgust.

Dragomir then informed Adeline what he had been doing for the whole day, "I have already pre-informed the councilmen about the situation."

"And as you had asked, I have gathered all the available witnesses and the victims. The clerk has already opened the case files of all of the crimes that she has committed, and the official statements of most of the victims and witnesses have already been recorded."

The King took a deep breath in and then said, "Now all we need to do is record the statements of the remaining people and then, decide on Lillian's punishment…"

He shrugged his shoulder and added casually, "…for the sake of formality. We already know what to do with her, there's no other option than the lifetime imprisonment, unless the council wants to introduce a new rule and sentence her to death."

Adeline took a glance at Edwin when the King mentioned the death sentence of Lillian right in front of him. She thought that he would be affected by the talks of the death sentence but Edwin couldn't care less.

After everything that he had seen and heard today, he thought that even a death sentence would be a lenient punishment for Lillian.

The King then glanced at his children and asked, "Okay, let's head towards the court then." He sighed and said, "It's going to be a long night because of the length of crimes that she had committed."

Adeline pointed towards the carriage and then replied, "I will give some instructions to the guards and then follow all of you right after."

The King nodded and started to walk ahead followed by his Royal Guards. Edwin and Raphael also headed towards the court as they were today's witnesses.

Adeline turned towards Lillian's carriage to check what she was doing because she was being awfully quiet. She was worried that Lillian somehow managed to free herself and snuck out in the middle of the road.

Adeline opened the door of the carriage to see Lillian sitting down on the floor, her hair ruffled up and her clothes all tattered. She looked as if she had given up on life itself.

It took Lillian some time to register Adeline's face in her mind. Her brain was already a mush from the overuse of the dark power.

And when she finally took notice of Adeline, she sprung up from the floor like a monkey who was ready to attack and shouted at the top of her lungs, "You b*itch! How dare you come to gloat just because you managed to nullify my power for some time? Do you really think that I will-"

Adeline was in no mood to see her shouting and cursing at her. So she shut the door on that witch's face and then went to order the coachman, "Bring the carriage in front of the court and park it there."

She then went to order the leader of Lillian's Royal Guards. "All of you follow the carriage and then surround it until the court's proceeding is over. Make sure that no one talks to her or gets close to her."

The guards immediately followed Adeline's order and they all began to move.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Edwin who was panting a little. It seemed like he had run all the way back from the court.

"Edwin?" she waited for him to catch his breath and tell her what he came to say.

After catching his breath, Edwin suggested to her, "I think you should ask Theodore to search for that maid and teleport her here as soon as possible."

"Why? Is there any problem?" Adeline creased her brows because she didn't understand why all of a sudden that maid became so important.

Edwin gulped and then said, "If my memory serves me right then she was the one who would help my mother to do all the clean-up after the mess that she would create. That maid knows all the corrupt guards and coachmen and everyone who has helped to keep her crime hush."

Adeline's eyes widened when she realized how that maid was an important piece of the puzzle. "We have to capture all the related people before they realize what is going down and before they get a chance to escape!"

Adeline instantly asked, "What's her name? Was she one of the personal maids of Lillian?"

"Yes. Her name is Ida, the one that always tails my mother everywhere. You will recognize her. You can go with Theodore and help him find her," Edwin revealed all the necessary details and also offered to help, "If it's not possible for you to go then I can go along with Theodore."

Adeline smiled and replied, "Thank you for the offer but I am pretty sure that he will recognize her." Adeline knew that Theodore could just revisit the memory of Lillian and find out who Ida is and what she looks like.

"You should rather give your own statements about the two of the maids' murders that you witnessed." Adeline paused for a while and said, "I will make sure that you won't get any further punishments. Even if you do get some kind of punishment for being an accomplice, I will have you excused. You've got enough punishment already."

Edwin gave a genuine smile. He glanced at the sister that he hated for so long with a sense of appreciation towards her. He was thankful towards the Dragon Immortal for making him follow Adeline because he could see firsthand how caring and protective she was of the people who had won her trust.

Adeline was still standing near the gate and there were way too many people around for her to randomly summon Theodore. So she informed Edwin, "I will head to my quarter first and then will join all of you in the court. I will inform Theodore of the recent development first."

"Sure. Till then I will give my statement.." Edwin headed back to the court again while Adeline ran towards her own quarter.