She Belongs To The Devil

Chapter 47 - Starvation

Princess Adeline was in her class with five of her half siblings. The class was being overseen by Councilman Gilbert who was teaching his students about the sacred duties of the Ruler of the Kingdom.

The councilman was a simple man who has been in the King's council for about 20 years. He looked older than the King and he was one of the person from whom King Dragomir would seek suggestions about the laws from.

Gilbert was calmly sharing his knowledge with the kids, "The main duty of the ruler is towards the Kingdom and its people. The first thing that a ruler has to make sure is that their people are not suffering from poverty."

"Poverty is the root cause of several human sufferings. If people are poor then they cannot feed themselves and their children properly. When people start starving, they will not think about right and wrong. They will try to earn some bread by whatever means possible. And this can lead them to be involved in criminal activities. This can even lead to a war."

The councilman further boasted, "King Dragomir has been successful in eradicating the poverty of the Kingdom. Wyverndale is one of the most prosperous Kingdoms. The people are the happiest with food on their table and a roof over their head."

Adeline interrupted the councilman by putting forth a question. "And what about the people inside the Palace? Does it not fall under the main duty of the ruler to make them happy as well?"

Councilman Gilbert scrunched his brows at such question from the Princess. He folded his arms and defended, "What could possibly make the people inside of the Palace unhappy? They have access to education, training, maids and servants, good food and clothes, place to sleep… I can keep on going."

Adeline gritted her teeth when she heard her teacher. She thought that it was people like him who did not provide insights to her father saying that people inside the Palace also needed a little bit of attention from the King. "Does love fall under that list of yours councilman?"

Adeline was the most loved and pampered daughter of King Dragomir, and such question coming from her made other kids give strange looks to her, unbeknownst to them the horrors that Adeline had come to know of.

"Of course Princess, love also falls under that list. The King has provided all of you with comfortable life. Isn't that a form of love?" Councilman tried to justify that King Dragomir loved everyone from inside the Palace as well.

However, that was not the answer that Adeline was looking for. She had witnessed her father starving his wives and concubines of love and that had turned one of them into criminals; or maybe there were more who were equally successful like Lillian in hiding their true faces under a façade.

And seeing how clueless everyone were about the crimes that Lillian had committed, she wanted to travel back to past and ask her father to love everyone equally. But that was impossible of course.

After the class was over, Adeline headed towards the stable instead of her quarter. She still had 3 hours left before her personal training with General Osmond. So she wanted to blow off her steam by spending some time with Rion.

She reached the stable and the sight of Rion instantly brought a smile on her face. "Hey Rion, I hope you are doing okay here." Adeline softly whispered to Rion and then proceeded to give scratches and strokes on Rion's neck.

Adeline called a stableman and questioned him about Rion, "How was he behaving today? Has he gotten used to his new home and new caretakers yet?"

The stableman lowered his head and said, "No Your Highness. Rion does not like anyone around him. The only person that can go anywhere near him is just Her Highness only. He has not even had any food yet. I tried throwing some hay from afar but he did not eat it."

Adeline took a deep breath and stood in front of Rion. "Rion, why are you being so stubborn? If I had not come to check on you, would you have stayed hungry for a whole day?"

And as if the horse understood what she said, it nodded its head.

Adeline raised her brows and gave a suspicious look to her horse. "I don't know if you just nod at the right time or do you actually understand what I am saying. But one thing is for sure, you are going to be personally pampered by me."

She glanced at the stableman and said, "Bring his food to me. I will feed him."

But the stableman was a little hesitant about that. He bowed his head and tried to politely refuse what the Princess had just ordered him to do. "But that is not your job Your Highness. How can I make you feed him?"

Princess Adeline was, however, adamant about her order. "Do you have any other option then? Rion is obviously not letting you come close to him. So it would be best if I feed him rather than let him starve. After all, he is my horse, so I am responsible for him."

After a while, the stableman returned with a basket full of green grass and handed the basket to the Princess.

Adeline placed the basket in front of Rion and stroked his neck and said, "Come on Rion, you should eat something." But Rion kept on ignoring the food.

Defeated, she took a handful of grass and placed it below Rion's nose so he could smell it and so that she could hand feed him. And to her surprise, Rion started munching on the grass. So she kept on feeding him until he finished all the grass in the basket.

"It was not that hard to eat now, was it?" Adeline smiled at Rion and looked proud of her work.

After making sure Rion was well-fed, Adeline headed to her own quarter to have some food and rest for some time.

Adeline was greeted by Osanna and Hawisa at her personal chamber with her nutritious diet. After eating, she sat on her bed and wondered how she would be able to face General Osmond after realizing how much he had suffered at the hand of Lillian. She could not help but feel apologetic towards Osmond because even though her dear father was not the one to hurt him, he was the indirect cause of it.

So before facing General Osmond, she wanted to contact Theodore so that she could get permission from him to tell the General about Theodore and all the things that she was able to discover through him.

And that was when it struck to her, "Wait, how am I supposed to contact Theodore? He has been visiting me so frequently that I forgot to ask the one thing that is important."

Adeline face-palmed herself and shook her head at her sloppiness. "Why didn't I think that sometimes I would have to initiate the meeting? And why didn't Theodore tell me anything? He is so selfish. He comes to me when he wants to see me but does not give me the same option."

Then Adeline racked her head to think of some way to make Theodore appear in front of her.

"Maybe he will come if I just say his name." She called his name a bit cautiously so that others would not hear her. Though it was a long shot, she did that for 4-5 times hoping that it would work, of course it did not.

She sighed and then mumbled, "What was I thinking by calling his name? He lives on the top of the mountain which is very very far from here. How can I be so stupid to believe that he can hear me from here?"

When she was lost in her thoughts, there was a soft knock on the door and Osanna entered the room. "Adeline, Prince Fenris is outside and he says that he wants to see you."

"What?" Adeline was furious when she heard the name of Fenris. "Now he even has the guts to come to my quarter? Tell him that I don't want to meet anyone right now."

Osanna puckered her lips as she thought that it would be rude to outright deny meeting the Prince from another nation. "Umm… he is our guest so I don't think it would be appropriate to turn him away. At least see him for five minutes."

Adeline rolled her eyes and said in an agitated tone, "Fine. Bring him to the outer chamber. But inform him that I am extremely busy so that he leaves from my room within 5 minutes."

"Sure" Osanna bowed slightly and then went outside to fetch the Prince.

And Adeline went to her outer chamber which had nice chairs fit for meetings.

Soon, Fenris entered the room led by Osanna. And he spoke in his captivating voice, "Good Afternoon Princess Adeline."

Adeline tried to sound as polite as possible and said, "Good afternoon. Please take a seat." Then she gestured Osanna to leave the room.

As soon as Osanna left, Fenris's face turned serious. And he spoke in his somber voice, "I am leaving for Aberdeen in an hour. And before I go, I had a favor to ask to you since I found you to be closest to Nigel."

Adeline's face lit up when she heard that he was leaving.. "Finally" she thought. And then she asked in her polite tone, "Sure, what favor?"