Chapter 33 - The Aftermath

Osanna had entered inside Adeline's room to wake her up for her bath. But she saw that Adeline was standing on her bed, her arms around air, and her eyes still closed.

Osanna raised her brows and stared at Adeline for some time, not sure if the Princess was awake or not. She noticed that Adeline's lips were moving. "Is she eating something in her dream?" Osanna thought to herself "Maybe I should prepare some food for her first."

The maid cleared her throat and called Adeline softly so as not to scare her, "Adeline, are you awake?"

Adeline gasped and opened her eyes when she heard Osanna calling her. She loosened her arms that were around Theodore and took a step back.

Theodore quietly stood on his own spot. He glared at Osanna and was cursing her inside his head, "And of course, she had to ruin this beautiful moment. Maybe I should get rid of these maids for good."

Osanna took a few steps towards Adeline and looked up at Adeline's face, who was still standing on the bed as if she was dazed. "What were you doing?" Osanna asked the Princess.

Adeline scratched her head and said a bit awkwardly, as if she was asking a question, "Er… I guess I was sleep-standing…"

If Adeline was still asleep while standing, Osanna thought that she must have been dreaming as well. "Were you dreaming about eating something?" Osanna asked innocently. No other thoughts crossed her mind as she had never experienced such things before.

The personal maids of the Princesses and Queens were never allowed to get married and have their own family. The Palace was their life and other maids were their family.

"Haha…" Adeline was really nervous because of the situation she was in. And Theodore was right beside her, clasping his mouth trying not to laugh out loud. That wasn't helping her either. Adeline wiped the beads of sweat that were forming on her forehead and replied nervously, "umm… I f-forgot as soon as you woke me up."

"Oh! It looked like you were eating something. And I was going to prepare the same food for you if you remembered. Don't mind that question then. Do you want to eat something in particular? What should I prepare for your breakfast?" Osanna was so oblivious to what was happening earlier in that room that she was unintentionally entertaining Theodore who was listening to her.

Theodore was smiling ear to ear and was nodding and pointing at himself as if he was the 'food' that Adeline wanted to eat.

A smile slipped from Adeline's lips when she saw Theodore acting all hyped. She immediately covered her mouth and as if she was clearing her throat. Then she replied to Osanna, "I will have some bread. And ask the chef to make Deviled eggs as well."

Theodore pinched both his mouth and nose so as to stop himself from bursting into laughter. His shoulders were shaking vigorously though.

But Adeline did not understand what was so funny that he was still laughing.

"Yes Princess." Osanna bowed slightly to Adeline and was about to leave but she suddenly remembered why she came there in the first place. "Oh! The bath is already ready. You should head to the bath house before the water gets too cold."

After Osanna left the room, Theodore finally laughed freely.

Adeline slapped on Theodore's sturdy arm and complained, "Stop laughing already. What's so funny?"

"No, it's nothing." Theodore regained his composure and said, "You should go and take a bath first. I don't want you to catch cold. I will see you in the evening."

"You are leaving already?" Adeline asked a bit sadly. She wanted him to stay by her side for a bit longer.

Theodore stroked Adeline's hair lovingly and smiled. "I would have stayed with you for the whole day but today I have some matters to take care of. Don't worry, I will pay you a visit in the evening, I will not disappear again."

Adeline smiled back at Theodore and whispered, "I will wait for you."

Theodore took a step forward and then held Adeline's head with both of his hands. Then he planted a brief kiss on Adeline's lips.

After that he prepared himself to teleport to his destination. And before vanishing from Adeline's room, he shouted, "Don't forget to eat those Deviled eggs." He had a mischievous smile on his face and he vanished after he gave Adeline a wink.

Adeline changed into her bath gown and then left for her bath house.

After bathing, she had her energizing breakfast, got dressed in her usual uniform, and then left for the training ground to spar with Nigel.

When she reached to the training ground, she noticed that there was another boy standing beside Prince Nigel. That boy looked younger than Nigel. And he also had long black hair that came up to his shoulder.

The other boy was continuously staring at Adeline as she walked towards them. "Who is that? And why is he staring at me? Is he someone I should know?" Adeline could not tell who that person was but she wished that he would not stare at her like that.

When Adeline reached close to the boys, Nigel introduced the other boy to Adeline, "Adeline, this is Prince Fenris of Aberdeen. And he is also my cousin." Then Nigel turned to glance at Fenris and said, "And you know my sister Adeline."

"Of course" Nigel walked towards Adeline with a great confidence. He held Adeline's hand and said "It is my honor to finally meet you Princess Adeline" then he kissed on Adeline's knuckles.

Adeline smiled at Fenris and softly bowed her head to show respect "Likewise, Prince Fenris".

Prince Fenris was a very courageous and forward person. If he liked someone then he would go for them without any hesitation. This time, Princess Adeline had interested him greatly, which was why he had decided to stay at Wyverndale for a few more days.

"I came here to watch you two practicing. I hope that you won't mind." Prince Fenris said with a grin.

"Why would I mind? You are Nigel's brother, which means you are my brother as well. So…"

But before Adeline spoke anything more, Prince Fenris's facial expression changed dramatically.

Prince Fenris slammed his chest with his fist and acted as if he was hurt by Adeline's words, "I wish you had not said that. That's not how it works Princess Adeline."

"Did I say anything wrong?" Adeline was bewildered by how Fenris was acting.

Fenris leaned a little towards Adeline and stared at her beautiful face. He had a playful smile on his face as he said, "I already have enough sisters Princess. I don't want more. What I want is a lovely friend who can also be something more."

Nigel realized where Fenris was going with this. Fenris had a reputation back at Aberdeen as the stealer of girls' heart. And he did not like the advances that Fenris was making towards Adeline. So he immediately interjected in between and said, "Well let's start the practice, shall we?"

"Yes!" Adeline shouted and then ran to stand beside Nigel. She too was getting uncomfortable with what Fenris was saying and how he was looking at her.

A little further, a circle was drawn on the ground. Adeline and Nigel stepped inside that circle and both of them started to do a few warm up moves. After stretching their body, both of them stood in the middle of the circle, facing each other. And then they took their fighting stance.

Adeline would always start by charging straight at Nigel. She would choke him from the side, go behind him while still choke holding him and then push him to the ground.

And today as well, she ran and charged at Nigel. However, Nigel quickly grabbed Adeline's forearm and pushed her elbow upward to get out of the choke. He rotated his body away from Adeline while maintaining the grip of her forearm. He punched on her shoulder with his elbow and Adeline fell to the ground.

Adeline quickly rolled over and lay on her back. She flung her legs and used the momentum to stand on her feet. She threw two punches at Nigel's face but he blocked the attack with his elbows. Then she threw kicks but Nigel was able to block them as well.

And Nigel threw a punch which was blocked by Adeline. He tried kicking her but she blocked it with her own kicks.

Both of them were not able to land a single blow. They were continuously blocking each other's attacks. It looked as if they were in perfect sync with each other and were able to tell where the other one would attack next.

Finally, Adeline gave an opening for Nigel to land a punch on her stomach but then she immediately grabbed his arm shifted herself to his back and threw him on the ground and pinned him.

Fenris clapped his hand and cheered Adeline's victory, "Woohoo! And the victory belongs to the Princess." Then he murmured under his breath, "I did not think that the Princess was this strong."

Both of them were panting and breathing heavily. Adeline could feel that all of a sudden, Nigel was good at the fight. Nigel was always good but he was not on par with Adeline. Normally he would have been choked by her or he would have given up way earlier.

And Adeline was not the only one to feel the difference. Nigel felt as if his body was better than before. His agility had improved greatly. Before, Adeline's motions were a bit too fast for him to see. But now, he was able to see where the attacks would come from and where it would land. He could also feel that his strength and stamina had also increased.

"Is it because of the werewolf gene? Or am I just feeling a little more competitive today?" Nigel thought to himself.

Both Nigel and Adeline got up from the ground and dusted their uniform.

"How about a friendly match with me Princess Adeline?" Prince Fenris grinned at Adeline.

Adeline smirked and replied, "If you are ready to be defeated then yes.." She could not wait to beat him to pulp.