Theodore still looked just like he used to look a decade ago, as if he never aged a day. He was wearing a black outfit like he always used to. And he had this playful look on his handsome face, which was almost impossible to resist falling for.

Though Adeline was giving a glare to Theodore and was shouting at him, she could still feel her heart flutter when the Devil Prince stood in front of her. For she had waited for more than a decade to look at that face, and now he was finally standing in front of her eyes. And her heart was involuntarily thumping really loudly at the sight of the young gentleman.

Adeline wanted to run towards Theodore and embrace him very tightly. But she controlled her urge to do that. She could not forget how he had ghosted her for more than a decade and hurt her. So she was determined to make him feel sorry for what he did and how he made her feel. She was determined to not forgive him that easily.

Adeline did feel uncomfortable though, having Theodore watching her without even blinking. Theodore’s golden eyes were observing at her youthful body, from her head to toe and back. She wanted to grab the towel to cover herself but it was hanging right behind of Theodore. So she shouted instead, “Stop looking! And get out of here.”

But these words from Adeline made him want to stare at her for even longer. He was thinking how his little human had turned into a feisty lioness. “But I just came in. Won’t you even say how happy you are to finally see me?”

“Why would I be happy to see you? I don’t even know you.” Adeline turned her gaze away from Theodore and started to stare at the blank wall of her bath house instead.

Theodore banged his hand over his heart and complained, “Ouch! Why do you have to hurt me by saying you don’t even know me. Are you really that angry towards me, my little human?”

She turned her head abruptly to look at Theodore and fumed, “Then what else did you expect when you didn’t uphold your promise? Did you expect me to come running at you? I am not that naïve child anymore who was spellbound by your kindness.”

Adeline was still crossing her hands in front of her chest to hide her feminine figure. She wanted to get out of the bath house and wrap herself with something that was not see through.

Theodore noticed Adeline constantly eyeing towards the door. But he was not going to let her run away so easily. So he moved his feet to bring him closer to Adeline and towered in front of the petite Princess. It was not the Princess who was tiny though, it was Theodore who was taller than average.

Theodore gave a smirk and said, “Oh! But I beg to differ, you still are that naïve little human to me.”

Theodore moved his hand towards Adeline’s face and removed the wet locks of her silver hair away from her face. Just that slight touch from Theodore made Adeline gasp softly. Theodore gave a whimsical grin when she did that because he knew she still had soft spot for him. She was just denying to show it.

Theodore leaned closer to Adeline’s face. But Adeline quickly turned her head away from Theodore’s face that was coming right in front of her. Seeing her turn away, he got even closer to touch her ear with his lips and then whispered, “Happy sixteenth birthday, my dear Adeline.”

Adeline instinctively tilted her head away and closed her eyes when she felt his lips on her ear. His whisper reverberated through her skin and the Princess could feel goose bumps all over her body.

“So you do remember.” Adeline didn’t mean to whisper back but she felt as if she was not in control of her own body and her body was acting on its own accord.

In order to stop embarrassing herself further, Adeline pushed Theodore to the side and managed to run out of the bath house and into her own private chamber.

But before she could do anything else, she felt a little pull backwards and Theodore was now hugging her very tightly from behind. She tried to fight him and free herself from his grasp but her power was nothing when compared to that of the Devil.

After a while, Adeline stopped fighting and remained calm. She could feel the warmth of Theodore’s body. But the warmth was a bit excessive. “Is he having a fever? Or was he always this hot?” Adeline thought to herself as Theodore was still hugging her tightly.

Theodore leaned his head down to touch Adeline’s face with his. Then he finally spoke again in his hypnotizing voice, “Did you really think that I didn’t keep my promise to you? Did you really think that I never visited you? I visited you everyday Adeline. Every single day.”

“Do you really think that I will buy your lies? At least you could have come up with a better lie if you really had to lie.” Adeline complained with a sad voice.

But Theodore immediately protested what Adeline had said and tried to make her understand what he meant by he visited her. “I am not lying, Adeline. I would never lie to you. I just cloaked myself when I visited you. Years ago, I promised that I would keep coming here to see you, but I didn’t promise to show myself to you.”

Adeline could not believe what she just heard. She scrunched her brows and tried to free herself from him but Theodore gripped her even tightly. She gave up fighting him again and shouted at him, “Don’t you dare play the word game with me! And why would you do that if you really came here every day? Why hide yourself from me?”

Theodore exhaled sharply and Adeline could feel his breath over her almost bare skin. Theodore defended himself in his bewitching voice, “Trust me, I did what I did for your sake. There are some things which I know more about you.”

Adeline sneered and asked immediately, “For example?”

“I don’t want to go into details right now and ruin your mood in your birthday. Why don’t we talk about this some other time? Maybe tomorrow?” Theodore placed his right hand on Adeline’s neck and slowly ran his fingers on her neck, moving up to her jaw, trying to tickle her and make her laugh.

Adeline bit her soft and pink lips, trying to control her emotions. She wanted to happily scream and say ‘yes’ to him but she controlled her urge and instead said, “And why would I even trust you? How can I believe that you will really come?”

Theodore took a deep breath in and blurted out her almost exact daily routine, “You wake up at 4 AM every morning, read your books, take a bath, then you meet with Nigel to practice with him, then training, then private training with Osmond, and then only you return back to your quarter.”

He paused to exhale and then continued again, “You pretend to be tough when you are around others but when you are alone, you still remember me and cry. Did I answer your question for now?”

Adeline’s face lightened up when he heard him reciting her daily routine. The rims of her sapphire eyes were filled with tears of joy. She wanted to turn around and hug him back. But she felt like he still deserved some punishment.

She finally managed to free herself from Theodore’s grip around her small waist and pretended to not care about what he had just said. She decided to do what he did to her, to watch but not to speak. She went towards her wardrobe to take out another towel and she started to dry herself.

Theodore quickly went in front of Adeline and grabbed her towel, “Adeline! Are you going to be grumpy all day? I am sorry. Will you please forgive me for not appearing before you… all these years?”

But Adeline didn’t say a word. She forcefully pulled the towel and turned to the other side. Then she started to dry her silver hair.

Theodore stomped his feet on the ground and then shouted, “Ahhhhhhh… Please don’t give this silent treatment to me. I will die within a day if you keep doing this to me.”

Adeline was smiling when she heard those words, but Theodore didn’t see it as Adeline was still facing the other way. She felt a little bit happy seeing him like that.

Adeline finished drying herself up. Then she slipped her night gown on top of her bath robe so that she would not show much of her skin. Then she started to completely ignore Theodore and look inside her huge wardrobe as if she was busy picking an outfit.

But Theodore could not take that silence anymore. So he grabbed Adeline’s hand and pulled her towards him. Her small body thudded against his tall and sturdy body. There was not enough space between the two of them for even air to pass through.

Theodore leaned closer to Adeline as if he was about to kiss her. Adeline felt like her cheeks would pop because she could feel it getting really hot. She could feel her heart pounding at an excessively high rate, so much so that she felt like Theodore could hear her heart beat as well.

Adeline panicked when she saw him coming close to her like that.. So she retaliated by shouting out to her maids who were waiting for her to finish bathing, outside of her chamber, “Hawisa, Osanna, where are you two? I am waiting since such a long time.”