The Waiting

Theodore and Adeline talked for another full hour. They talked about Adeline's mother and father. Adeline told Theodore how her father loved her mother very dearly but her mother was called by heaven too soon. Adeline would often hear this from her father and she shared what she knew with Theodore.

Theodore felt that it was unfair for Adeline for losing her mother at such a young age. He felt like fate had robbed her of happiness by depriving her of her mother. "Is that why you were sad today, because you don't have a mother?" Theodore tried to know the reason behind the pain that he felt in the morning.

Adeline shook her head and replied, "It was not because of that. It was because my other brothers and sisters were mean to me. No one had ever talked to me like that." She looked down and started to fidget her fingers.

Theodore ran his hand down Adeline's silver hair and said to her lovingly, "Your teacher was right. You need to be stronger than everyone else so that they will never be able to dominate you or talk down to you."

He paused for a while to remember about his own experience and continued, "You have to be the strongest and you have to be the most feared person. Then and only then will no one be able to hurt you like they did today. Do you understand?"

Adeline's young mind picked up few words like 'be the strongest' so she nodded her head.

The duo talked further about Nigel and Queen Claricia, how they were very kind to her; and many other things about Adeline like her favorite food, color, etc. Adeline had already asked questions about Theodore so many times, so this time Theodore wanted to know more about Adeline.

But the two of them were interrupted by Osanna who had come to wake up the Princess and take her to the bath house, which was right beside Adeline's private chamber. However, she was surprised to see that the Princess was awake and was talking to someone.

As Theodore was still invisible to the other human's eyes, Osanna thought that the Princess was talking with her imaginary friend and playing alone. She thought that way because she had often seen Adeline talking with her imaginary play mates when she was alone.

"Princess Adeline, would you like to take a bath now? It is starting to get late and you must be hungry by now." Osanna asked the Princess very politely.

Adeline nodded her head and ordered Osanna, "Okay. Prepare the bath for me."

Osanna bowed her head to the Princess and said, "Yes Your Highness." Then she went to the bath house to prepare lukewarm water for the Princess.

Adeline then turned towards Theodore and looked at him with sad pair of eyes. She didn't want to say goodbye to him yet but she knew that it was time for him to go. "Keep visiting me okay?" Her sapphire eyes were hopefully staring at Theodore's lips for his answer.

Adeline could see Theodore's lips slowly curving up to form a bewitching smile and he parted his lips to say, "Okay my little human. I will keep coming to see you."

Adeline was very happy to hear that so she also gave him her cutest smile.

Theodore took Adeline's cute little hand and then placed a kiss on the knuckles of her hand. Then in his deep voice he said, "Goodbye, Princess Adeline. Until we meet again."

Before Adeline could say her goodbyes, he waved his hand around him to disappear into thin air right in front of Adeline's eyes. Adeline felt sad when he vanished but she was happy to know that Theodore would be visiting her more often. Or so she thought…

Several days passed but there was no sign of Theodore. Apart from her normal routine to go to the training ground to take her classes, waiting for Theodore also became her normal routine. She would try to be alone in her room thinking Theodore would only appear if she was alone. But that didn't seem to be the case.

Then slowly days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. But there was no news from Theodore.

Adeline used several ways to divert her mind from Theodore. She tried to forget about him by trying to make herself believe that Theodore was no more than a character in her dream. She tried spending more time with her father but he was a busy man.

It didn't take long for the waiting to turn from months to years. And yet, there was no sign of Theodore.

The expectation that Adeline had about Theodore turning up in front of her, slowly started to wither away. She then tried to spend more time with her beloved brother Nigel. Nigel was a good company for her but he was still unable to fill the void in Adeline's heart that was left by Theodore.

Not being able to bear the pain of waiting any longer, Adeline even thought of running away from the Palace to go to the Devil's Cave. But there was no way she could get out of the Palace undetected, without the invisibility spell like the last time it was not an option.

Adeline started to hate Theodore for lying to her. He had promised to her saying that he would come by often to visit her. But that was just a big lie. She thought of Theodore as a very good friend but she felt like that was just a one way road.

With time, she started to believe that she had never meant anything to Theodore other than a weak human with fleeting life. And with that she started to hate him for making her feel so miserable.

And the demonic power that was loaned by Theodore without her knowledge didn't help her that much. It multiplied her desire to be near Theodore even more.

Finally, after a few years, Adeline decided to focus all her energy on her trainings instead of Theodore. She started to be very attentive in her trainings. She would take every sparring session very seriously and try to win each of them. She even started to practice for extra hours.

This helped her to focus her mind on something else. General Osmond was happy with the dedication that Adeline was showing in all of her trainings. She was above average in all of the trainings and was even exceling in a few like sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat. Osmond fully supported Adeline through this journey and was dedicated to make a strongest warrior out of her.

Day by day, Adeline was putting an extra effort on her trainings and after few more years, she was exceling in almost all of her classes. General Osmond would often report to the King about Adeline's accelerated progress. After hearing how Adeline was progressing, he could not help but be proud of his daughter. He always had high hopes for her.

However, out of all of the people, General Osmond was the happiest to see the progress of Adeline. After all, his revenge on Queen Lillian depended on how strong Princess Adeline was.

Osmond would often think to himself, "Princess Adeline will be turning 16 years old soon. By then, I will have to prepare her. I will have to help her to become the strongest one out of all the Princes and Princesses."

But the General was not the only one who was eagerly waiting for Princess Adeline to turn 16, everyone else in the Palace were also waiting for the same. For that was when all the Princes and Princesses would be allowed to take a test in front of the deity of Wyverndale Kingdom.

The Wyverndale Kingdom had a tradition of sending all the Princes and Princesses to face the deity after all of them crossed 16 years. The deity would test all of them and finally would select the future King or Queen of Wyverndale. The deity's decision was binding and was never questioned.

And every Queens and Concubines were eager for their children to take the test and be pronounced the future King/Queen of Wyverndale. As all mothers, each one of them believed their own children to be the best and they were eagerly waiting for Adeline to turn 16 so that their children could finally take the test, and subsequently the Kingdom.

The years passed by and Adeline's birthday was only a few months away. King Dragomir had announced to hold a huge banquet on the auspicious day of Princess Adeline's birthday. The preparations had already begun.

Invitations were sent out to all three neighboring Kingdoms as well as the families of the Royal Concubines. All of the invited families were powerful and influential ones. They too were eagerly waiting for that day, not because they were happy for Princess Adeline, but because they thought that Wyverndale would finally come into their hands with their grandchildren being announced as future ruler soon.

Varieties of high quality grains like rice, wheat, millet, corn, red beans, kidney beans, etc. were being stockpiled in the Royal Granary. The Royal Farm was also full with animals and varieties of eggs. The Royal Food Storage was full of preserved fruits and vegetables, dried meat, pickles, and spices.

The whole Palace had an upbeat vibe with every maids, servants, and workers enthusiastically preparing for the upcoming banquet. They all were eagerly waiting for the Princess's birthday to arrive.

And as for other Royal members, they had a completely different reason to be happy about. They could not care less about Princess Adeline. All they were preparing was their elaborate and flashy dresses to wear in the banquet as all powerful people would be attending it. And it was a place to show off one's power by wearing extravagant dresses and jewelries.

Finally, the day arrived. It was Adeline's 16th birthday, the most anticipated birthday by everyone in the Palace.