Rion

Before Fenris could ask some more questions to Adeline, she dashed off from the training ground to her own quarter.

Nigel had affairs assigned by the King that he would have to look after. So, Prince Fenris and Prince Nigel also started to head towards Nigel's quarter.

Nigel was walking in a very relaxed way with his hand behind his back when Fenris shot his unanswered question at Nigel. "Seriously Nigel, how is the Princess so strong? I even told our clan's secret to her and she just ran away like that."

Even though Nigel knew the real reason now, he thought that it was not his secret to tell. So he just brushed off the question by saying, "Adeline was the most gifted out of all the other half-siblings and she had always been this strong. Maybe the strongest gene of our father went to her. You know how strong the King is."

Fenris nodded his head and a whimsical smirk appeared on his lips. He muttered under his breath, "Now she has garnered my attention even more. I will definitely make her mine."

With a sensitive hearing, Prince Nigel was able to hear what his cousin had said even when he had just mumbled. So Nigel smacked Fenris at the back of his head.

"Oww! What was that for?" Prince Fenris frowned as he rubbed where he was smacked.

"I am warning you, don't even think about it." Prince Nigel said with a straight face, without even sparing a look at Fenris. And he kept on walking with his new found confidence.

Fenris was not the man to just give up. But he did not say anything to Nigel because he did not want another beating from the werewolf.

After Adeline reached her room, she was served with another breakfast because she needed her power-packed diet to maintain such strong body. Osanna laid the table down while Hawisa laid down the food. At this time of the morning, the Princess was mostly served with glutinous rice and meat, with some green vegetables on the side.

After eating and resting for some time, it was nearly 8 in the morning. Her trainings would be from 8 to 10 AM. The training session was to be attended by those who were 18 and below. And there were only five of the royal children who were under 18 years. As all of them had mostly learnt everything by now, the training duration was shortened.

While the Princes and Princesses above 18 were assigned with the Royal Duties by the King, those who were still younger than that were free to do whatever they liked. But most of them would go for personal trainings just like Adeline.

Adeline left once again for the training ground. But before she could reach to her training session, she was approached by two of the Royal Guards.

The guards stood in front of the Princess and bowed to her. Then one of them spoke, "Your Highness, we just received a horse. And it seems like someone had sent it as your birthday gift." Then he handed a small note to the Princess.

Adeline opened the note. And there it was written "Happy 16th birthday Adeline. I hope he will be a good companion to you. He is a rion."

"He is a rion? I guess you mean his name is Rion..." A huge smile appeared on Adeline's face when she read the note. She knew whose handwriting that was. It was a gift from Theodore. "So that was the urgent matter that he had to tend to…" she thought.

The Princess slipped the note in her pocket and looked at the guards. "Take me to the horse."

"Yes Your Highness." Both of the guards bowed and then led her to the stable.

When they reached the stable, Adeline immediately knew which one was the gift from Theodore. Because it stood out the most among all the other horses that were there in the stable. The horse was shiny black in color. Its shiny black mane was equally attractive; it looked as if it was flowing from the horse's back. The horse looked very strong and sturdy.

Adeline immediately fell in love with her new companion.

As she was about to go near the horse, one of the guard tried to warn her that earlier, the horse was acting like it was untamed. But before he could ask the Princess to be careful, she was already by the horse's side.

Adeline ran her finger through the horse's mane and the horse was standing very still as if it was the most obedient horse in the world. Adeline smiled and whispered to the horse, "It's nice to meet you Rion. I hope we can be best friends."

The horse gently neighed and nodded its head like it understood everything. Adeline smiled and hugged the horse.

The two guards who were seeing this could not believe their eyes. It had taken around 7 stablemen to bring that horse in and tie it up. But here the Princess was hugging the horse and it was doing nothing to her.

After patting the horse and talking with it for some time, Adeline asked the stablemen to take good care of Rion and left for her training.

While Nigel was busy looking after several complaints from the people, Fenris was pacing back and forth in the room. Nigel was trying to focus on his work but he was being distracted by the constant tapping from Fenris.

"Will you stop that?" Nigel shouted at Fenris and glared at him.

"Ooh, there's the anger again." Fenris stopped walking around and smiled at Nigel. Then he continued in his sarcastic tone, "You don't have to be so rude just because you are a werewolf now."

Nigel took a deep breath to calm himself down. After the transformation, he was finding it more difficult to control his anger. Then he spoke in a soft voice, "I am not trying to be rude. You know my hearing has become super-sensitive. And I am being distracted by your shoes constantly clacking here and there. So please just take a seat."

Fenris sat down and kept quiet for some time but then he could not control his urge to speak. "Why can't we go to the training ground and watch the Princess fight?"

Fenris had already asked this question about a dozen times already. Nigel exhaled sharply and then gritted from between his teeth, "Because we are not needed there right now, that's why."

Fenris jumped up from his seat and shouted, "I think I should go alone."

Nigel knew why Fenris was so adamant about going there, and he did not trust him enough to let him go alone and meet his sister. "Alright, alright, we will go when her personal training starts. Now be a Prince and take your seat."

And after waiting for what felt like an eternity for Fenris, both the Princes finally headed towards the ground to watch Adeline's training.

When they reached the ground, both Adeline and General Osmond were in the sword fighting area. They were both drawing a double edged arming sword with one hand while on the other hand they had a metal shield. And they were fighting each other very seriously.

The constant clanging sound of the swords could be heard as they would strike against each other. The Princess was aggressively attacking while the General was deflecting the attacks and was defending himself. While watching them, one would feel like they were the most brilliant swordsmen in the Kingdom.

The practice went on for hours but Fenris was not complaining, he was not even saying a word. He was just too focused on Adeline's flawless movements. If one was to take the General out of the picture then it would seem like the Princess was performing some divine dance with the sword and shield.

Finally, the practice for the day was over. Osmond had the face of a proud teacher. He patted on Adeline's shoulder and said with a smile, "Your skills have undoubtedly improved. Keep this up and you will be the strongest person in this Kingdom as you wanted."

Adeline bowed to show respect to her teacher and spoke softly, "It is all thank to you General Osmond. If you were not here to guide me then this would not have been possible."

"See you tomorrow at the same time Princess." General Osmond also bowed to the Princess and left. He would not bow to any other Princes and Princesses while at the training ground but Adeline had always been the exception.

After the General had left, Princess Adeline ran towards the Princes and smiled. "Brother, I got a beautiful horse as a birthday gift. Let's go, I had been dying to show him to you."

Nigel exclaimed and raised his brows, "You got a horse as a gift?" Then he looked somewhat disappointed and said, "The most impressive gift I got for my 16th birthday was a surcoat with golden embroidery."

Fenris laughed when he heard his cousin said that but immediately got silent when Nigel gave a piercing gaze to him.

Nigel turned at Adeline and then asked again, "Who gave you such a gift?"

Adeline half-shrugged her shoulders and then said, "You know who." And then she grinned at her brother who understood who it was.

Adeline turned on her heels and then started heading out of the ground, "Let's go! Let's take Rion for a ride."