In the Palace of Wyverndale, it was already everyone's bedtime. Hawisa and Osanna had already bid goodnight to the Princess and had already ended their duty for today.
Adeline was lying flat on her soft bed, spreading her legs and hands wide apart. Though she was lying down on her soft bed, she looked very stiff and tired.
Today's training was very tough for her. She had to dodge the attacks from the General while her hands were tied behind her back. And as she was not habituated to dodging the attacks before, a lot of punches and kicks had landed on her stomach, arms, thighs, and some had even managed to graze her tender face.
Her body was stronger than a normal person's but she would feel pain nonetheless, just like everyone else. The only difference was that she could take way too many direct hits than the others. And today, she had taken countless hits from her teacher.
Hawisa had put some ointment on the places where the Princess was hurt. And Osanna had prepared a special herbal tonic for the Princess to boost her immunity and rejuvenate her stamina. So, Adeline hoped that the pain would go away when she would wake up tomorrow.
Adeline closed her eyes to get a goodnight's sleep, completely forgetting that Theodore had already made it a tradition to take her to his cave every night.
A gust of mist swirled beside Adeline's bed and Theodore appeared out of thin air. His eyes fell on the Princess who was sleeping very un-lady-like. Her hair was spread out all over the pillow, her hands and legs were spread out in a way that made her look as though she had fallen from a cliff and had landed there on the bed.
At first glance, Theodore could not help but chuckle at that state of the Princess. But then his eyes fell on the tiny bruise that she had on her cheekbone. He walked closer and leaned over the Princess to inspect her bruise closely.
"How does she have a bruise on her face?" Theodore narrowed his eyes and thought to himself. His eyes trailed to other parts of her body to check if there were any more bruises and wounds.
And to his surprise, there were few other bruises that had turned light bluish in color. "Did someone… do something to her? Did she got beaten up by someone? But then why didn't I feel her pain?"
Theodore was now very worried as well as angry. He was angry at whoever did this to his precious human and was worried that maybe their bond was somehow getting weaker. "I should have at least felt something when she was hurt so much."
He did not realize it but he was softly caressing her bruised cheekbone while intently looking at the Princess sleeping peacefully as though nothing had happened to her.
Adeline felt something tickling her face so she slowly fluttered her eyes open. In her half-asleep state, she saw something looming over her face so she gasped. And in an attempt to get away from that 'thing', she abruptly sat up causing her to bump her head on Theodore's.
"Ahhhh!" Adeline held her head and then winced in pain.
"I'm so sorry to have startled you. Are you alright?" Theodore asked with a concerned voice.
Adeline let out a sigh of relief and glanced at Theodore, "Theo! It's you!"
"Yes, it's me," Theodore sat on the bed beside Adeline and removed her hand which she was using to rub her forehead. Then he gently brushed his lips against her forehead and apologized again, "Sorry, Princess."
Adeline felt her heart warming up. She whispered in her soft voice, "It's alright." She smiled at Theodore and then tried to remind him that she was not a fragile doll, "I am used to all these bumping and beatings."
"Right," Theodore caressed her bruise on her cheekbone again and asked, "How did you get these bruises? Did someone do some -"
But Adeline immediately interjected him so that he wouldn't think that someone had beat her up with bad intention, "No, I got these from today's training. General Osmond was trying to teach me to defend myself but I couldn't quite catch it so I got a few punches here and there."
But still, Theodore was angry at Osmond for bruising Adeline's delicate body. He clenched his fist furiously and yelled, "Osmond did this to you? I think I should teach him how to treat young ladies."
He was about to get out of the bed in fury but Adeline laughed and then pulled him back on the bed, "Relax, Theo. He was just teaching me to protect myself from my stronger opponents. The more I get beaten up by him here, the less I get beaten up or pinned down by other dangerous creatures."
When Adeline put it like that, Theodore's anger cooled down a bit. "If it's like that then I won't do anything to him. But if I keep on seeing such bruises on you for long then I will end up doing something to him."
Adeline put her arms around Theodore and rested her head on his broad shoulder. Then she reassured him, "He won't. I am a quick learner so I should be able to dodge his every attack within a few days."
She lifted her head to look at Theodore and said, "Now, let's go." She gave a very beautiful smile to him which almost melted his heart.
And because of that smile, he couldn't quite relate to where she was asking to go. He creased his brows and asked, "Go where?"
Adeline thought that he was just pulling her leg so she gave a little frown and whispered, "Where else? To your room."
"Oh!" Theodore was completely taken aback by the fact that he was the one who had forgotten about their little ritual. And he felt happy by the fact that she was the one who was actively asking him to take her to his room.
Theodore's seductive lips curved upwards to form a smile. He kept on staring at Adeline's expectant eyes and kept on giving that appealing smile.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Adeline shifted her hair behind her ears and gave a puppy-eye look to Theodore.
Theodore took a deep breath in and kept on staring at the woman whom he loved. When she would shift her hair behind her ears like that, he would feel something inside his chest.
And when she would tilt her head a little to the side, showing off her tender neck, he would get this urge to pin her down and kiss the hollow of her neck until she would moan for more.