She Belongs To The Devil

"I hope the King will be happy with my finding. He is really hard to please though. I doubt that he will even acknowledge all the effort that I put into finding the information today. But I really hope that he will see my hard work," that spy thought to himself as he swooshed forward towards his destination.

Back at the Palace, the King\'s Court was slowly thinning out as the people were returning back to their respective homes with happy faces.

Lillian was already taken down to the depth of the dungeon and was already imprisoned.

After sending her father to rest for the night, Adeline also headed towards her own quarter. She was already itching to get out of her battle armor.

"I think I am already half-baked in this armor," Adeline thought to herself as she fanned her palm over her neck. Even though the night was a bit chilly, she was still feeling really hot.

She looked up at the starry night and sighed out loud, "Ah! At least one thing is done and dusted with. Now I can completely focus on the damn war. But let\'s think about the war starting tomorrow. I want to celebrate tonight."

A huge smile appeared on the lips of the Princess. A small sense of victory finally settled down in her heart.

"Finally, I had my revenge..." she whispered as she entered her quarter.

Hawisa and Osanna saw the Princess finally returning back to the quarter. By now, the news about Lillian had already spread around the Palace. And they also came to know that it was Adeline who had managed to capture Lillian.

They got to know that Adeline had to battle with Lillian. The story that they heard was a bit different than what had actually happened but nonetheless, they had already prepared several nutritious foods for Adeline.

"Adeline, we heard that you had to fight the Queen. You must be really tired and hungry. Shall we bring the food first or shall we prepare a bath first?" Hawisa asked Adeline as she and Osanna followed her to Adeline\'s personal armory.

"I think I will take a bath first. I feel really dirty right now. So I will eat after cleaning up." Adeline replied as she began unbuckling her battle armor.

"Sure. I will go and ask the kitchen maids to heat some water." Hawisa went outside the room while Osanna helped Adeline to get out of her dirty armors.

Adeline hung the armor back to its original place. She then took out all of her weapons and asked Osanna, "Osanna, will you bring some water and a clean piece of cloth? I will clean the weapons until the bath is ready."

"Sure, I will be right back," Osanna also left the room after getting the order from the Princess.

Adeline then glanced at the sword that Lucifer had given her. She had activated the enchantment that would hide it from other people\'s eyes and had kept it on a higher shelf so that someone else wouldn\'t accidentally stumble upon it.

She narrowed her eyes and thought, "I wonder if that sword can kill the vampires. The book said that driving a wooden stake through their hearts would kill them… does that mean piercing their heart with metals won\'t kill them?"

Her thought was disturbed by Osanna who returned back with the items that she had asked for. "Do you also want me to help you clean the weapons?" Osanna asked the Princess.

However, Adeline declined that offer citing, "A warrior should clean their own weapons. That way our attachment with our weapons will increase."

Osanna chuckled at the philosophical answer from the Princess and said, "Okay, I will let you grow your attachment then. In the meantime, I will increase my attachment with your bathtub."

Adeline covered her face and laughed at how Osanna destroyed her \'wise\' words.

After Osanna left the room, Adeline took out her sword and began to clean it. She soaked the cloth in water, wrung it, and gently rubbed it against the blade of the sword. When she soaked the cloth in water again, the water turned black in color. It was the main reason why she didn\'t want Osanna to help with cleaning.

"Adeline, your bath is ready," she heard Hawisa shouting from the other room.

She got rid of the water herself and then went to the bathhouse.

The moment she stepped in the water, she felt as though her sore muscles relaxed a bit. She scrubbed herself clean, especially on her cheeks where that ghoul\'s blood had splattered.

Her mind suddenly jumped back to that very moment when she had sliced that ghoul\'s head off from its neck. She shuddered in disgust. She was at least not feeling guilty because that creature was from Hell and was about to kill her brother.

"What if I will have to kill people someday? Won\'t the guilt be unbearable? How do soldiers sleep at night after returning from the war? Won\'t their dreams be haunted by the countless lives they took?"

Adeline forgot that she was in the bathtub and kept on thinking about hypothetical situations and burdening herself with unnecessary guilt. So much for celebrating the victory…

"Adeline, why are you taking so long? Are you alright?" Hawisa knocked on the door of the bathhouse in a worried voice. It had already been a long time since the Princess had locked herself in the bathhouse.

Adeline snapped out of her thoughts and answered, "I\'m alright. I was letting my muscles relax for a bit. I will be out in a minute."

The Princess hurriedly got out from the tub, got dressed, and went to her private chamber.

Her personal maids brought hot food for her but didn\'t leave the chamber. They wanted to hear about today\'s events from the Princess herself. So they sat down beside the Princess as she had her dinner.

Adeline was more than happy to get things off of her chest. She finally shared how Lillian had killed her mother. She didn\'t say how she came to know about it but she shared how Lillian had committed other countless crimes, including her kidnapping.

Both Hawisa and Osanna were stunned when they heard about the Princess\'s kidnapping.

"So you are telling me that you were kidnapped by Lillian? And that the maid who had lied to us saying that Queen Claricia had called us was the one who played a major role in her capture?" Hawisa raised her brows and asked in disbelief.

"Yes, and yes," Adeline pursed her lips.

Osanna scoffed and whispered, "What a fitting end to that cruel witch."