Chapter 38 - Killer

Adeline lifted her brows and shouted, "There's more? What else did that witch do?"

Theodore was not sure how to break the news lightly, so that Adeline would not be affected severely. But the matter itself was so sensitive that no matter how he said it, Adeline would be hurt.

After a lot of courage Theodore finally looked into Adeline's sapphire eyes and spoke, "She was the one who…" but he could not utter any more words and he looked away.

Adeline was now starting to get really worried. Was she trying to betray her father, the Kingdom? At this point she thought that Lillian was even capable of killing her own husband. "Just tell me Theodore, 'she was the one who…' and then what?"

"…who killed your mother" he whispered while avoiding making any eyes contact with the Princess.

But the whisper was loud enough to be heard by Adeline. She gasped and held her breath in. That was not the answer that Adeline had expected, she had not even thought about that possibility, not even remotely.

Adeline's knees grew weak. Her lower lips were trembling and so were her hands. And her heart… she felt as if thousands of needles were prickling her heart all at once. And she collapsed down to the floor on her knees.

Theodore ran towards her and held her in his arms tightly. And he whispered in a melancholic voice, "I'm sorry that you were deprived of your mother's love by that woman. And I am sorry that you found it out after so many years."

He could feel what she was feeling. The pain in his heart was too agonizing and he could tell how devastated Adeline was feeling right now.

Adeline's eyes swarmed with tears as the pain in her heart kept on escalating. She had never cried for her mother's death till now because she was an infant when her mother died. And she was already habituated to not have a mother around when she grew up.

All these years she had blamed the God for taking away her mother when she was too young. And now that she found out her mother's death was not a normal one but that it was a murder, she started to cry her heart out. "She killed my mother…" Adeline was screaming in between her cries.

"How can someone kill another person so easily Theodore? Just tell me how can someone be so cruel? What did my mother ever do to her that she had to kill her? And what did I ever do, for her to want me dead so badly?" Adeline was bawling while clenching on Theodore's robe.

Theodore ran his hand through Adeline's silver hair and tried to console her. Theodore knew all the answers to her questions, from the perspective of Lillian. However, he thought that giving the answers right now would be too cruel on Adeline. Adeline's mother and she did not deserve that hate from Lillian. Lillian's actions were unjustifiable.

"You have to be strong Adeline, for your mother's sake. You have to avenge the murder of your mother. How would your mother feel if she saw you crying like this?"

Theodore definitely was not the kind of person who knew how to be soft with others and how to be sensitive around others. But his words seemed to have positive effect on Adeline, for she started to calm down.

She wiped her tears with the rim of her dress and sniffed. "You are right. I have to be strong. I will have to punish her… not just for my mother's murder but for all of her evildoings." Adeline stated in a stern voice.

Theodore was more than happy to see the determination on the Princess's face. "This is what I expected from you Adeline. The main reason why I chose not to reveal myself to you for all those years was to make you strong, emotionally as well as physically."

Theodore looked into her eyes and continued in his hoarse voice, "I didn't want you to be distracted by my presence. And I wanted to you to focus on yourself. I wanted you to know that in the end, it is you who has to take care of yourself." He pursed his lips and said, "No one can be by your side forever."

She bit the inside of her lower lips and nodded. She did not agree with Theodore's method. He had abandoned her and made her feel lonelier. But she could not deny that she was now a good fighter, in fact much better than her half-siblings, and almost at par of the generals.

Adeline took a long breath in and retorted, "So this is what you wanted to prepare me for then. I guess it would have been much easier to fight in a war than fight against the evil scheming of my father's wife. But I have no choice now."

Adeline lifted herself up from the floor and clenched her fist. "I will be the one to bring the downfall of Lillian." She shifted her gaze towards Theodore and demanded, "You are the master of taking revenge right? Tell me what to do. Help me get my revenge."

Theodore also got up from the floor and had a big grin on his face because of the words of Adeline. He rubbed his palms together and spoke in a malicious tone, "There, there Princess, no need to rush it. Revenge is a dish that is best served cold and slow. You need to savor their pain like a cold dessert."

A hint of mischief was lurking on his face. "First, focus on being selected as the future Queen of Wyverndale. Then I have all the bricks laid out for your sweet revenge."

Adeline narrowed her gaze and said, "Queen huh! I have been targeting for that position my whole life. The only thing that is in between that position and me is the test."

Though she had been practicing and studying for that position for her whole life, she could not help but feel a little nervous. Lots of thoughts started to dwell in her mind, "What if I fail that test? What if Edwin gets chosen as the future King and Lillian's evildoings thrives even more? As far as I know Edwin, he is a very cunning man and if he is to be the King, there is no doubt that the mother and son will ruin the Kingdom."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "No, I can never let that happen… not in this lifetime… not in another."

Meanwhile at the Palace, Queen Lillian was pacing back and forth in her private chamber. Her black and green gown was sweeping he floor as she was pacing restlessly. "What was that power? That power was too great. Whatever it was, it was able to subdue my consciousness."

She turned on her heels and sat on her elaborate chair. She started tapping her feet and gripped the armrest of the chair so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I will have to be more powerful. I cannot let what happened today to repeat again in the future. I have to be able to resist whatever that was."

"But that presence felt so familiar as if I have felt that same presence before as well." She placed her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes.

And after thinking for a while, her eyes flung open. "Yes, I felt that about a decade ago. It even gave me hallucinations. How can I forget that embarrassment?" Outraged, she slammed her fist on the armrest indignantly.

Lillian glared and gritted from between her teeth, "I will increase my power and I promise I will catch you, you evil soul."

Osanna knocked at the door of Adeline's room several times but there was no answer. She thought that the Princess was asleep so she quietly entered the room to set Adeline's dinner table. After entering the room, she looked around but Adeline was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe she is in the bath house" she murmured to herself and started setting the dinner. She laid down the plates from the tray and then got up and turned around.

Osanna gasped and dropped the tray from her hand. Her eyes were wide open when Princess Adeline appearing in the room out of thin air.

Seeing Osanna in her room, Adeline covered her mouth with her hand. She had been caught! The feats such appearing out of thin air was considered to be forbidden magic. She feared that Osanna would accuse her of using black magic.

She inched her feet towards her maid and lifted her hand to stop her from running, "Osanna, I can explain."

But Osanna was so stunned that she could not even speak properly, leave alone run out of the room. She pointed her finger at Adeline and stuttered, "J-just you n-n-now did…" 

And Osanna collapsed on the floor, unconscious.