Chapter 145 - Lost

The next day passed as usual for Adeline. She went to her group training. And to her relief, her brothers and sisters weren't acting any different. Then she went to her personal training and returned to her quarter.

And before she had her dinner, she went to the stable to feed Rion and spend some time with him as usual. She reached the stable and went to the stall where Rion would be. But to her surprise, her horse wasn't tied there.

"Did someone tied him somewhere else?" She looked around to check if the stablemen had tied him up in some other stall but Rion was nowhere to be seen.

One of the stablemen saw the Princess in the stable and came running to her assistance. He bowed his head to the Princess and politely asked, "Your Highness, shall I bring Rion's food?"

Adeline gave a stern look to the stableman and asked while pointing at the empty stall, "Where is Rion?"

"He-he was right he-here just a while ago.." The stableman had fear in his eyes. He took a round of the stable looking inside each and every stall to check if another stableman had tied him somewhere else. When he didn't find him anywhere, he started to sweat like a pig.

He ran back to the Princess and bowed his head. Then he began to apologize to the Princess, "I am so sorry, Your Highness. I don't know how he is missing from here. He was here a while ago. I had seen him when I was feeding the other horses. And then I went to clean the containers. I don't know what happened during that time."

The stableman feared for his dear life. All of the stablemen were well aware of how dear Rion was to Princess Adeline. The Princess treated him like her own brother. And he feared that the Princess would send him to prison for being careless.

But Adeline was not like Edwin who would punish people on a whim. She was too upset to focus her energy on giving out punishments.

"Ask the other stablemen if they have taken him away somewhere. Maybe they took him to graze upon the fresh grass." She ordered that man while trying her best to maintain her calm.

"Yes, Your Highness," that stableman bowed his head and immediately ran off at the top of his speed towards the servant quarter.

But Adeline doubted that the stablemen would have taken Rion somewhere. Rion was not that compliant with those stablemen yet. He would have probably scared them off if they even tried to untie him, let alone drag him somewhere far.

Till he would return back, Adeline thought of asking the guards nearby if they had seen someone else taking Rion away. Rion was a peculiar one, if he liked someone then he would follow them easily. For example, if Nigel was to approach him then he would easily obey him. So she thought that someone other than the stablemen could have taken him somewhere.

"Or maybe the rope that tied him got loose and he took off from the stable on his own," Adeline murmured to herself. She walked out of the stable to look for guards nearby.

There were two guards on patrol behind the stable. They stopped on their track and bowed down to Adeline when they saw her coming towards them.

Adeline went to them and asked, "Have you seen someone take Rion away? Around half an hour ago? Or seen him roaming around freely?"

One of the guards replied, "We have not seen Rion, Your Highness. Is he lost?" All the guards knew which horse was Rion because of the trouble he had caused them since the day of his arrival.

Adeline puckered her lips because she did not want to think yet that he was lost. But then she nodded her head and said in a bit of a sad tone, "Yes, he isn't there in his stall."

And the guard asked politely, "Is there something else that you want us to do, Your Highness? We can ask the others around."

Adeline nodded her head and then ordered them, "Yes, ask the guards if they have seen him somewhere. And if you find him then return him back to the stable. Or call me if you are unable to get a hold of him."

"Yes, Your Highness," the guards bowed to Adeline and set off.

Adeline was feeling restless. It was starting to get dark already and she worried that if she didn't find him soon, he would be lost for good. Rion was the first present given to her by Theodore and she didn't want to lose him. Not just that, she was already attached to him and she could not think of separating from her dear horse.

She was pacing back and forth when the stableman came running towards her. She could already speculate from the expression he had that he was not returning back with good news.

And as she had expected, he blurted out while gasping for air, "Your Highness, the others had not taken him anywhere. Shall I look at the race track to check if other Princes or Princesses took him there?" The stableman did not want to stand idly in front of the Princess; he did not want to get any punishment.

Adeline nodded her head and said, "Yes, do that."

And without even recovering his breath from the previous run, he dashed again towards the race track.

Adeline then waited for the two guards to come with the good news or to come back with Rion. She was constantly looking in the direction that they went in while fidgeting her fingers.

After a while, the guards returned back to where the Princess was standing and reported back to her, "Your Highness, we asked the guards in this area but no one had seen Rion. We even asked the guards at the gate but they said that no one had taken him out of the gate. So, he must be somewhere inside."

Adeline nodded her head and said, "Thank you! You may take your leave."

The guards bowed their heads before they left to continue their patrol.

Suddenly, a fear set in her heart. "Did someone steal Rion? But who could do that without getting seen by anyone?"