Adeline woke up very early in the morning as usual. She was in her white night gown made up of soft silk. Even when she had just woken up from her bed, she looked as pretty as a full moon. Her silver hair was ruffled a bit but that didn’t stop her from looking effortlessly beautiful.

The fact that it was her birthday had little to no effect on her. She didn’t care much about celebrating her birthday. She only agreed to have the banquet because her father was very persistent about it. Else she would have rather preferred to spend her time in the training than spending it to please all the people that she didn’t even know.

Adeline was now sitting in front of her desk which was about a foot tall. She was sitting on a comfortable cushion and was going through the scroll that her father had sent her to wish her a happy birthday. She would occasionally smile while she was reading the scroll. This was the only part that she liked about her birthday.

This had become a tradition between the father and daughter. King Dragomir would always personally write a sweet birthday message to his beloved daughter and send it to her on every birthday. Adeline had collected all the scrolls from her father and had kept them safely like treasures.

When Adeline was about to finish reading the lovely birthday wish from her father, there was a knock on her door. She did not have to guess who they were because Hawisa and Osanna would always come exactly at this time to prepare a warm bath for her.

Adeline glanced towards the door and said, “Come in!”

Hawisa and Osanna entered the Princess’s personal chamber. They bowed to the Princess and greeted her, “Good morning Your Highness.”

It was no surprise for them to see Adeline up and about because Adeline would always be busy going through her books early in the morning. They would prepare a bath for her. And after taking a bath she would leave for an early morning sparring session with Prince Nigel. She would return back, have heavy breakfast, and would leave again to the training ground.

Adeline would return back to have lunch and then again leave for her special training session with General Osmond. Prince Nigel would also accompany her but rather than being actively involved in the training, he would just sit down and cheer up for his sister.

The other Princes and Princesses had their own private teacher from their own clan for extra practice. So, they would just pity Adeline for not having her own clan to back her up. Her mother did not come from a wealthy family so they could not support Adeline. However, what they did not realize was that she was making far better progress than them.

“Good Morning! And how many times do I have to tell you that you two can just call me ‘Adeline’ when no one is around?” Adeline complained to her trusted maids whom she regarded more like friends.

“Oh! We didn’t want to forget how to address you properly because we have to do that in front of the others.” Hawisa giggled and came closer to Adeline. Then she hugged the Princess tightly and wished her, “Happy birthday my dear Adeline.”

Osanna ran towards both of them and pushed Hawisa to the side, “Come on! How much time are you going to take? Let me hug her as well.”

Hawisa got off from Adeline and scorned at Osanna, “Tch… you always do this. Can’t you wait for a second?”

Adeline was giggling at the side seeing the two of them fighting. They always made her laugh with their silly fights.

Osanna turned towards Adeline and flung herself forward to hug her Princess, “Happiest birthday Adeline. May all your wishes come true.”

Adeline smiled at those two and thanked them, “Thank you Hawisa, Osanna. You two have always taken care of me and loved me dearly. What more could I wish for? I have you two, which is enough for me.”

“Are you going to make us cry by talking so highly of us?” Hawisa looked at the Princess with watery eyes.

Osanna was already wiping the tears off her face. Small praise from Adeline meant a lot to them and made their day.

Hawisa cleared her sour throat and said, “Osanna, come on. We have to prepare a warm bath for our not-so-little Princess.” She looked at Adeline with loving eyes and said softly, “Can’t believe our Princess is already sixteen.”

Osanna also smiled and added, “It only seems like yesterday when we came to look after you. You were such a little bundle of joy. Now look at you, you have already grown up so much.”

“Yes, our Princess has grown up to be a beautiful and strong lady.” Hawisa caressed Adeline’s beautiful face and smiled.

Adeline covered her face and giggled, “Don’t praise me so much. You two are making me blush.”

Hawisa and Osanna both laughed. Osanna got up and said, “Okay let’s go for real now. We don’t want our Princess to be late for her own banquet. We have so many preparations to do.”

Adeline was confused by this remark from Osanna. “What are you talking about? The banquet only starts at the dusk. And there are hours left for dusk.”

Hawisa also quickly got up on her feet and exclaimed, “Exactly! There is so little time left and so much to be done. We have to make you look your prettiest self.”

Then both of them rushed towards the bath house to prepare the bath, while the Princess got back to her precious scroll.

Hawisa and Osanna scrubbed the huge bath tub and cleaned it. Then they half-filled it with cold water which was stored in the bath house.

After that, Osanna went outside and walked to the Royal Kitchen to order the workers to boil water. The other maids of the Kitchen transferred the hot water into wooden buckets and walked towards Adeline’s quarter accompanied closely by Osanna.

After the hot water arrived, Hawisa was standing inside the bath house, keeping an eye on everyone so that they would not drop some unwanted herbs or something that would harm the Princess.

After making sure that the temperature was right, Hawisa and Osanna grabbed the basket of herbs and dried flower petals from the drawer that was inside the bath house itself. They mixed the right amount of herbs and flowers to give Adeline a beauty bath. This was their usual morning routine.

After making sure everything was just right, Hawisa went to the Princess’s personal chamber with a bathing gown made up of thin cotton. Then she called the Princess for the bath. “Adeline, the bath is ready.”

Adeline got up from her cushion and took the bathing gown from Hawisa. Hawisa turned around to give the Princess some privacy. Then Adeline slipped out of her night gown and put on her bathing gown.

After Adeline entered inside the bath house, Hawisa and Osanna got out of the room and locked it behind her. They used to give her a bath until she was twelve years old. But Adeline denied being attended by them after she was twelve saying she felt shy now that her feminine features were showing up.

Adeline slowly got inside the bathtub and soaked herself in the beauty bath that was prepared by her maids. When she entered into the water, her thin bathing gown did not hide her exquisite body shape anymore. With lots and lots of training and sparring sessions, her muscles were tight and toned. Her body looked tough but at the same time looked very beautiful.

Adeline started to take the water on her palm and pour it on her hands and face. She loved playing in the water. She splashed the water with her legs and smiled happily as she was listening to the sound of water.

After enjoying the warm bath for quite some time, Adeline got out of the bathtub. But something unexpected happened. Someone barged into the bath house without even knocking.

Adeline gasped at the sight of a tall man with a chiseled jaw who stood in front of her. She quickly covered her chest by crossing both of her hands in front of her body. And she shouted at that man with enraged eyes, “Why the hell are you here?”

A devilish smirk appeared on Theodore’s face when Adeline shouted at him. He could not take his eyes off of the beautiful lady who was standing in front of him. She was all soaked up in water; colorful flower petals sticking here and there on her body.

The thin bath gown that she was wearing barely covered her curvy figure. Theodore could clearly see the outline of Adeline’s beautiful body.

Her face was no less than that of an angel that dwelled in Heaven. Water droplets were dripping from her silver locks of hair, down to her chest and her waist. Theodore’s golden eyes involuntarily followed a few droplets of water down to her thin waist and broad hips.

His keen eye movements were stopped by Adeline’s stern voice, “Stop looking! And get out of here.”

Theodore protested in his hypnotizing voice, “But I just came in..” The devilish smirk never left his face.