All the Princesses bought at least a piece of Jewelry from the shop from where Adeline had bought that chain. And they visited a few more shops that were displaying clothes, perfumes, and flowers.

Nefriti was excitedly showing around a variety of items and was explaining several new things that Adeline never knew before. Adeline was keenly learning many things about the people of the Kingdom. Things like how they behaved, what kind of things they purchased the most, what kind of clothes they wore, etc.

While closely observing the villagers, she found out that most of the shopkeepers were very welcoming and friendly. The buyers of this particular market spent their coins on gifts and foods. And most of the people were wearing colorful clothes made up of cotton. And most importantly, everyone looked happy with their lives.

“I see that father has done a great job by maintaining peace in the Kingdom. Everyone looks very happy and content with their lives.” Adeline thought to herself while observing the subjects of that village. “I would love to visit other villages someday and check if everyone in the Kingdom is doing equally good.”

After roaming around for some time, they came across a shop where nothing was being displayed outside. The shop was covered by grey curtains and a faint light could be seen from across those curtains. The only thing that would catch someone’s eyes was a small sign of orb that was hanged outside of the shop.

“What is this place? This was not here when we came here the last time.” Kaela was the first one to notice the strange setting of that shop.

Nefriti nodded her head. “Yes, it was not here the last time. But why are they covering the shop like that? Is it even open?”

“Should we go and check?” Raphael suggested in a curious voice. The place looked ominous from the outside and he was interested to see what the shop was offering.

Gustin was also getting the same ominous vibe from that shop. “Yes!” Gustin instantly agreed with Raphael and started to move his feet in the shop’s direction.

And all the others followed him.

When they entered inside the curtains, they found themselves in a small waiting room. They saw a middle-aged woman sitting in that room as though she was waiting for their arrival.

“Welcome to my humble abode every one!” The woman gestured at the stools that were laid out in the room and said, “Please take a seat.”

The Princes and Princesses could just see the stools in the room and nothing else. And they didn’t know what to expect. But even though they were feeling a little uneasy, they complied with the lady’s request and sat down.

“Are all of you interested to know what your future holds?” The lady asked in a very polite and sweet voice.

“Oh… so you are a fortune-teller?” Kaela questioned the polite lady.

The lady gave a kind smile and answered, “Yes, you are right young lady.”

Gustin was immediately disheartened to learn that it was a fortune-teller’s shop. The reason why he wanted to come inside was that it looked spooky from the outside. But then again, he thought that what could be spookier than the uncertainty of the future?

Nefriti clasped her hands together and smiled excitedly. “Yes, we want to know about our future.”

“Okay, I will see your fortunes one by one in the room inside.” The fortune-teller pointed at the room behind her. The door of that room was decorated with colorful beads. The door was open a little and one could see that something blue was glowing inside that room.

“Who wants to go first?” The fortune-teller asked the group.

Everyone’s eyes involuntarily fell on Gustin because he was the one who was overly interested in this shop and the one to get inside the shop at first. And also, nobody had any experience in having their future told and they didn’t want to be the first one to do that. So all of them were trying to make a scapegoat of Gustin.

Gustin felt everyone’s eyes on him. He looked at his brothers and sisters, and raised his brows, “What?”

“Why don’t you go first… since you were the one to insist on coming here?” Raphael gave a little nudge to Gustin.

But Gustin protested, “Hey, weren’t you the one to suggest coming here in the first place? Why don’t you go in first?”

“No, I’m good. I’ll go at last, that is if I still want to go by that time.” Raphael folded his arms and looked away.

The fortune-teller was patiently waiting for them to decide on who was going to get their fortune told at first.

“Tch… tch… tch…” Nefriti clicked her tongue in disapproval at the way the two were bickering over such a trivial issue. Then she took the courage and announced, “I’m going in first.”

“Very well” the lady smiled at Nefriti and then opened the door for her; and she gestured her hand inside the room, “Please… come in.”

Nefriti jumped up from her seat and then went inside the separate room that the fortune-teller led her to.

After about 10 minutes, Nefriti came out of the room. However, she was not as cheerful as she was before entering that room. Though she was trying her best to smile and not make it so obvious that she did not like whatever she heard inside that room, it was clearly being reflected on her face.

The fortune-teller lady came to the door and then asked again in a polite voice, “Okay, who is coming in next?”

The others felt a little reluctant to go inside after seeing such a change in Nefriti.

After making the fortune-teller wait for some time, Kaela took some courage and then stood up from her seat. Then she went inside the room. When Kaela came outside, she was neither happy nor sad.

After that, Claudia, Raphael, and Gustin went in turn by turn. But none of them were that happy when they came outside.

It was finally Adeline’s turn to go inside. But she was contemplating whether it was a good thing to try to know about the future or a bad thing. In the end, she thought of giving it a try and got up to go inside.

The fortune-teller welcomed her with a sweet smile. And after she entered the room, she closed the door behind them.

The room was rather smaller and dimmer than the waiting room outside. There were two chairs, and in the middle of those two chairs, there was a table. There was an orb on the table. It was the object which was giving off the light earlier.

Adeline was curiously looking at the orb because she had never seen anything like it before. And she thought to herself, “How is it glowing on its own?”

The lady sat on a chair and then gestured towards the remaining chair and said, “Take a seat young lady.”

Adeline nervously smiled and then sat on the chair. She was nervous because all of her brothers and sisters looked sad after coming out of this room.

The fortune-teller didn’t ask what Adeline would like to know about. She simply held out her hands and then said, “Give me your hands dear.”

Adeline complied and put her hands on top of hers.

However, as soon as Adeline’s hand touched the lady’s hand, she gasped and then threw Adeline’s hands away as if she had held some burning coals. Then she placed her hand over her chest and took deep breaths in. But her breaths were quivering as though she was scared of something.

Adeline was not just shocked but she was stunned to get this kind of reaction. “Did she do this to everybody? Is that why they looked so dull?” she thought.

The fortune-teller was closing her eyes and she kept on taking deep breaths. Adeline didn’t even dare to ask what was wrong because she was afraid that if she spoke a word, that lady would get spooked again.

And Adeline felt as though that was her cue to leave the room. But she thought that it would be rude to just leave without saying a word. So she pressed her lips together and waited for the lady to open her eyes and say something.

After about a minute, the lady opened her eyes and cleared her throat. “I-I’m sorry for acting like that. It’s just… it’s just that I was a bit shocked. In fact, not just a bit but a lot.”

“May I ask why?” Adeline scrunched her brows and braced herself to hear the answer. From the way that she had reacted, Adeline thought that maybe she saw something really bad in her future.

The fortune-teller asked a question to her instead of giving an answer, “Have you ever come in contact with a mystical being of any kind?”

Adeline was very nervous when she heard that question from someone whom she had never met in her life before. And she didn’t know how she was supposed to answer that question. She contemplated to herself, “Would she know if I just lied to her? I don’t think I will ever see her again after I walk out of this room.”

Seeing her reluctance, the lady didn’t press her any further.. She tried to politely reveal why she was shocked, “I don’t know if you are aware of this or not but there is a presence of demonic power inside of you.”