She Belongs To The Devil

It was around four in the morning. Adeline was still in her sleep but she could feel her back getting cold. She was already habituated to sleeping with Theodore's arms around her waist or at least touching him in some way.

So she wriggled towards Theodore's side of the bed to stick with him. Even after wriggling significantly to his side, her back didn't touch him.

In her half-asleep state, she lifted her hand and tapped behind her to find her husband. But still, she couldn't find him.

"Theo?" she mumbled in her sleepy voice and waited for Theodore to answer. However, there was no reply from him.

She finally forced open her eyes and turned around. Theodore wasn't in bed.

Adeline furrowed her brows and got up. "Did he go to the bathhouse? Why is he up so early?"

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. She waited for some time for Theodore to return to the room but he was taking too much time.

As she was already awake now, she thought of making good use of this morning's time. "Maybe I should look at that speech again and try saying it in front of the mirror. I don't want to sound doubtful of myself on my first public speech."

Adeline turned to her side to get out of the bed. That was when she noticed a piece of paper on Theodore's pillow.

"Huh? What's this?" She picked it up and tried to read it but the light from the lantern was too dim for reading.

"Did he go somewhere in the middle of the night? It looks like a note from him," Adeline mumbled to herself and got out of the bed.

She walked towards the lantern to increase the flame and read what was written on that paper.

Adeline furrowed her brows and read the message out loud, "Went in search of some anomaly that I sensed in the natural order. Nothing much to worry about."

However, she could only do the opposite of what Theodore had asked. She was greatly worried.

"Anomaly in the natural order? Does he mean… someone tried to open the gate to hell or something?" She started to feel jittery and began pacing back and forth in the room.

She had a lot of questions that were haunting her mind. And she was murmuring to herself, "When did he go to find this 'anomaly'? Where exactly did it happen? And who was behind it?"

Adeline abruptly stopped pacing and looked out of the window, towards the forest. "Did Lillian manage to break out of the dungeon?"

She focused her ears on the sounds outside and shook her head, "If it was Lillian then the Palace would have been in an uproar right now. And I would have been informed right away. If it's not Lillian then who?"

Adeline began pacing back and forth again while mumbling, "Maybe that anomaly isn't caused by the sorcerers. Maybe something else happened. I hope there's nothing to worry about as he wrote."

While she was deep in her thought, she didn't notice the dark mist forming behind her.

Adeline furrowed her brows in suspicion and whispered, "But is Theodore alright? I hope no one is trying to sabotage or cause any problem during the coro–"

She abruptly turned around only to bump on Theodore and get startled.

"Hahh!" She was so startled that she screamed and gave a knifehand strike right on Theodore's neck, making him fall down on his knees.

Theodore groaned in pain and asked as he rubbed his neck. "Wife, why do you have to be so brutal? Are you this angry with me?"

Adeline sharply breathed in and immediately knelt down in front of Theodore. "Why would I be angry at you, silly?" She didn't think that she had hit him too hard but looking at his reaction, it didn't seem like he was faking the pain.

She lightly touched his hand and apologized, "Theo, I am so sorry. I got startled and my hand moved before I could think."

"Can I do something to ease your pain?" Adeline asked while regretting her lightning-fast response that was responsible for hurting her husband.

Theodore gave a sly smirk and nodded his head. "Yes. Will you give me a body massage? My whole body aches."

Adeline scoffed in disbelief and clenched his cheeks with her palm. "Now you are pushing it, my dear husband. I doubt that His Highness got a whole body pain just from a chop on his neck."

"I haada shree aawo long faait wif my brother." Adeline was still clenching Theodore's cheeks tightly so he mumbled out his words that didn't make much sense to Adeline's ears.

"You did what with your brother?" Adeline left her clutch on him and asked again.

"I had a three-hour-long fight with Lucifer. I went to the fountain to heal my wounds but my body still aches." Theodore grimaced and rubbed his nape.

Adeline was gaping her mouth and was staring at her husband, not knowing how to react to that.

She scratched her forehead nervously and asked him, "Why did you fight with Lucifer? Did the two of you get into some disagreement? Was he somehow... responsible for the anomaly that you mentioned?"

"No, no. I just fought with him to let off my steam." Theodore gave a wide grin like a happy baby and got up on his feet. He then pumped both of his fists in the air and proudly declared, "And I won! For the first time ever in my life!"

"You won?" Adeline obviously knew how big a deal it was for Theodore. So she also flung herself up on her feet and clapped her hands for him, "That's nice to hear. Congratulations!"

Adeline also knew what it meant and asked, "So… umm… did you get that sword that you were forever dreaming about?"

Theodore's grin became even wider. He grabbed Adeline's hand and pulled her close. And he whispered to her, "I will get it soon. Can't wait to see how it will look."

Theodore leaned down and smooched his wife amorously. And he whispered in her ear, "And can't wait to see how you will look with your new crown."

Adeline gave an earnest smile to Theodore. She then grabbed Theodore by his palm and led him towards their bed. "Come, let me give you a good massage. You deserve it."

Theodore happily followed her. He took off his clothes and lay down on his stomach.

Adeline gently pressed on his shoulder blades and while doing so, she also asked, "Did you find something about that anomaly that you mentioned in the note?"

Theodore's face hardened when he recalled Lilith's unyielding intention. He glanced at Adeline and sighed. And he informed her, "Reginald somehow got Lilith on his side. She will be fighting from their side."

Adeline's palms stopped upon hearing Lilith's name. She felt a sting in her heart because Theodore had once been beaten badly by that woman.

Theodore shifted to rest on his back. He took Adeline's hand and kissed her palm. And he reassured her because she looked very worried. "Adeline, I was hurt the last time because I didn't fight back. I won't be doing that when it comes down to our ultimate battle."

"Is she stronger than Lucifer?" Adeline asked to gauge Lilith's strength.

Theodore smirked and replied, "Not quite. Which means I can easily defeat her. Don't worry about it."