Prince Nigel was one of the genuinely happy people for Princess Adeline’s birthday. Like everyone else in the Palace, Nigel was also preparing for tonight’s banquet. He wanted to look fierce today so that he would not garner any criticism from people who would attend the banquet from all over the Kingdom as well as other neighboring Kingdoms.

People from Aberdeen Kingdom had a reputation of being very soft and caring in nature. And because of this, people from other Kingdoms would look at them with pitiful eyes thinking they were weak. But they were anything but weak.

And Nigel also wanted to look his best because he had promised his sister that he would have a dance with her in the ball that would take place after the feast.

“She has already turned sixteen. Time sure do flies fast. I remember how she used to follow me everywhere, holding my hand. She still follows me, but now all she wants to do is spar with me. Not that I don’t like it but she always beats me. Who knew she would grow up to be such a powerful lady?” Nigel was talking to himself as he was checking his outfit for today.

But then suddenly he felt a stinging pain in his heart. He gripped his hand over his chest and was trying to endure the pain as much as he could. “Aahhh! What is happening to me lately?” He groaned with pain.

Nigel’s whole body was sweating. His long silky black hair was starting to drench in sweat. He gripped his bed post with both of his hands as the pain kept on growing. His breathing was starting to get heavy and when he stared at the wall in front of him, his sapphire blue eyes turned into amber color for a fraction of seconds.

And slowly, the pain faded away. He returned back to normal. It had been a few months since he started to feel such excruciating pain. He had not seen any healers and shamans yet because even though the pain he felt was unbearable, it would pass on its own after a few seconds. And after that he would forget about it.

Princess Adeline and Theodore were still staring at each other when Hawisa and Osanna finally returned back to the Princess’s chamber. A guard successfully managed to chase the snake away to the forest. After running around like wild cats for quite some time, both the maids were tired. So they returned back after calming their fear and resting for a while.

“I am extremely sorry Princess. I made such a fuss earlier.” Hawisa apologized to the Princess with a hint of embarrassment on her face.

Osanna also immediately added while bowing her head down a little, “And I am sorry as well for leaving you and running away like that.”

Theodore was still on bed and he made sure that he did not move even an inch.

Adeline turned towards her maids and tried to lighten the mood, “No it’s alright. You two protected me in a way. The snake just followed you two, didn’t it?”

But the maids were even more embarrassed that at the face of a danger, they had left the Princess and ran away.

As the beauty treatment was already over, Osanna went forward to gather all the ingredients and bowls from the bed. While she was doing so, she noticed that Adeline’s eyes were watery and red. “Is something bothering you Adeline? Were you crying?” she asked with a bit of a concern.

Adeline moved her face away from Osanna’s direct view and lied, “No, why would I cry? It is my birthday after all. I was just yawning that’s all.”

Hawisa also noticed Adeline’s eyes by that time and felt that something was wrong. She thought that Adeline must have felt lonely without her mother being there in her birthday. She thought that it would be best to give the Princess some time to herself.

“Adeline, why don’t you have breakfast now? Once we start dressing you, I’m afraid you will not get to eat anything until the banquet.” Though Hawisa had lots of work to do on the Princess, and there was no time even for breakfast, she wanted to give some space to the Princess.

Adeline nodded while still avoiding meeting her maid’s eyes.

Hawisa swiftly moved out of the room to bring some hot meal to the Princess while Osanna also followed her shortly with the two baskets that she had brought in earlier in the morning.

After the maids left the room, Theodore extended his long arm to touch Adeline’s smooth hand but his hand was left hanging midair when at the exact moment someone barged inside the room.

“Hey sister, I wish you a very happiest birthday.” Nigel came in shouting and his arms extended for a hug.

Adeline quickly got off from her bed to avoid Nigel accidently jumping on Theodore. Then she hugged her brother and replied with a bright smile, “Thank you brother. What took you so long to come here? I thought you were too busy with yourself.”

A deep frown formed on Theodore’s face when he saw the two of them hugging. “Sure, she is your sister. But do you need to cling on to her like that? Impudent brat!” Theodore was cursing Nigel in his mind.

“I apologize, my dear sister. I wanted to come earlier to personally wish you but my maids insisted that I get an herbal bath. And I accidently fell asleep in the water, so I became a little late.” Nigel playfully walked around when he said so.

But Nigel abruptly stopped walking when his eyes fell on Adeline’s bed.

Adeline’s face dropped when Nigel stared right at Theodore. She feared that Nigel might have seen Theodore and stammered, “W-what’s wrong N-Nigel?”

Nigel tilted his head and narrowed his gaze. He held his chin and kept on staring for some time. He inhaled sharply and then said with a skeptical tone, “I don’t know. I feel that something in this room is not right but I can’t pinpoint what is wrong.”

For a second, even Theodore thought that Nigel could actually see him because he was directly staring right where he was.

“W-wrong? Nothing is wrong here.” Adeline tried to brush off Nigel’s suspicion.

But Nigel was not giving up, he glanced around and said, “There is something strange in the air. I can smell it.”

Adeline laughed nervously and said, “Oh! That? The maids gave me some strange beauty treatment today. Maybe it’s the smell of those rare herbs.”

Nigel was still getting this strange feeling that it was not the herbs that he had smelled. But he did not want to keep on insisting further. “Herbs, right. Maybe that is what it is I smelled.”

“Your Highness, I have brought some breakfast for you.” Hawisa entered the room closely followed by two other maids. Then they laid down the food on the Princess’s table.

Hawisa glanced at Nigel and asked him with a slight bow, “Would you also like to join the Princess for breakfast, Your Highness?”

“Oh no, it’s alright. I was just visiting her to wish her a happy birthday.” Nigel denied the request with a smile.

The maids then bowed to the Prince and Princess and left the room.

Nigel turned towards Adeline and smiled gleefully, “Enjoy your breakfast Adeline. I will meet you tonight.”

“Sure brother. Don’t be late.”

Theodore was holding his breath when Nigel was near him. And finally he let out a huge sigh of relief. “That brother of yours is very interesting. Something is different about him.” He said to Adeline as she sat down to have her breakfast.

“Well he always had a keen sense of smell.” Adeline looked at Theodore and gestured to him, “Come, have some food with me.”

Theodore was not going to deny such an offer from Adeline so he jumped out of the bed and sat beside the Princess.

Several dishes were laid out in front of them like juicy chicken breast, freshly baked bread, boiled potatoes, and green vegetables.

Theodore grabbed a pair of knife and fork and then began cutting the large chicken breast. Adeline was enjoying the bread with some vegetables. Then she saw Theodore shifting the plate with chicken cut into bite-size pieces.

Adeline stole a quick glance of Theodore and smiled at him. This gesture of him made her feel nostalgic. He had done the same thing when she had first met him in the Devil’s cave.

She held a fork and then lifted a piece of chicken and put it inside her mouth. Theodore, just like before, watched Adeline eating. Before, he was intrigued by how her little hands were struggling to hold the fork. But now, he was enjoying the luscious lips of her moving softly as she chewed on her food.

Adeline felt the deep stare that Theodore was giving at her and asked him, “Aren’t you going to have something?” She was feeling very conscious of her movements when he was watching her so closely.

“I would love to have something but it’s not food..” Theodore gave a mischievous smile and then winked at Adeline.