Due to the friendly behavior of Adeline, Peggy’s perception that Princesses were filled with ego and attitude was shattered. Adeline was treating her as though she was her friend. So she was mesmerized by the gentle Princess whom she was talking to right now.

The Princess had already asked her a lot of question, and now Peggy took some courage to ask a question to the Princess. “Princess Adeline, may I ask which Kingdom are you from?”

“I’m from Wyverndale. I am the youngest Princess.” Adeline replied politely. It was already given that Peggy wouldn’t know about the outside world.

Peggy gave a warm smile to the Princess and said, “So, you are from the same Kingdom as me. I vaguely remember that I used to live in the outer village of the Kingdom. But that is a distant memory now.”

And the maid dared to ask another question again. The question which everyone inside the cave was dying to know about. “May I ask how Your Highness happened to meet our master?” She bowed politely and said, “I hope that I am not overstepping in your private matters.”

Adeline didn’t know if she was allowed to say the truth, but she thought that it was okay because everyone in the cave was loyal to Theodore. So she confided in the maid, “Actually, my story is also somewhat similar to you.”

“Similar to me?” the maid was visibly confused.

Adeline nodded and continued, “I was kidnapped when I was a toddler. And my kidnapper left me here, in front of the cave. But Theodore returned me back to the Palace to my father.”

“You were kidnapped?” The maid was stunned to hear that. She was surprised that even the Princess had shared a somewhat similar fate as her, somebody had dared to leave the Princess in front of the Devil’s Cave. And she exclaimed when another realization hit her, “That means you knew our master since you were a child?”

Adeline chuckled shyly and then nodded her head, “Yes. He has been taking care of me since that day. He always has been very kind to me. And with time, I somehow grew fonder of him.”

Peggy placed her palm on her chest and gave out a huge sigh of relief, “Ah! That is such a relief to hear.”

“Relief?” Adeline creased her brows with a slightly confused look on her face.

And without giving any thought, Peggy blurted out, “The others were spreading rumor that you were someone who had trapped our master by using your womanly charms.”

Peggy instantly covered her mouth when she realized what she had said. Her whole face started to turn red when she finished saying that because she felt that she had revealed some harsh words that the others were saying about the Princess.

So Peggy immediately corrected herself, “But it seems like it was our master who has charmed you. I feel like both of you genuinely care about each other.”

Adeline’s cheeks were slowly turning red because of embarrassment. “His followers think that I trapped him using my charms? Why would they even think that?” Adeline was thinking to herself.

Peggy though of her as a fool to have blurted those words. She bowed in front of the Princess and apologized, “I’m sorry if I offended you, Your Highness.”

The words that Peggy had quoted from the others sure stung Adeline but she smiled at Peggy and said, “Let others say what they want. You don’t have to apologize to me because you were not the one to say such things about me.”

“I’m going to scold all of them for you, Your Highness. From now on, I won’t stand any more words being spoken against you.” Peggy was already in love with the Princess and promised to protect the dignity of the Princess.

After having a short chat with the Princess, Peggy understood what her master saw in the Princess. It was not just the Princess’s beauty that had smitten her master, it was her kind and gentle behavior as well.

Adeline and Peggy kept on chatting with each other for quite some time. Theodore finally returned back to his room to see his maid and Adeline talking and laughing with each other. And he was happy to see that Adeline had already befriended his maid.

“I see that the two of you have bonded well.” Theodore was standing by the door with folded hands and was smiling at the two of them.

Peggy hurriedly got up and bowed to the Devil Prince. Then she gave a smile and bowed to the Princess, and rushed out of the room without saying any other words.

“You two were laughing, what were you talking with her?” Theodore asked the Princess while locking the door to his room.

Adeline smiled and said, “Nothing much. I was just asking some questions to her about how she ended up here. And we also shared some of our secrets with each other.”

“Oh! I didn’t know that you were a talkative one.” Theodore had always thought of Adeline as an introvert so he was surprised that Adeline was already sharing her secrets with his maid. This was a new one for him.

“She looked very uncomfortable around me so I was trying to get her to open up to me. I will be coming in here daily through the front door so I might as well maintain a good impression in front of your maids and followers.” Adeline gave a sweet smile as she was successful in doing so with one of his maids.

“That’s some good thinking on your side.” Theodore was seriously impressed with Adeline. He would sometimes forget that Adeline was not just a shy Princess, she was a daughter of a most tactful King. So she was bound to have some of his qualities passed down to her.

Theodore then rummaged his hand in his pocket. He took out the gift that he got from Adeline and said, “This deserves to be in my special collection.”

He then walked closer to where Adeline was sitting and offered his hand for her to hold. “Come, I will show you something.”

Adeline gently held his hand and pulled herself up. And Theodore led her towards his wardrobe.

“You have ‘something’ in your wardrobe?” Adeline glanced at Theodore with curiosity.

Theodore pursed his lips and then replied, “More or less…” Then he stood in front of his wardrobe and raised his palm facing towards the wardrobe. A light purple flash left his hand and hit the wardrobe. And when it hit, the wardrobe began to shift to the side, revealing an entrance.

Adeline’s eyes were wide open when she saw the entrance revealing a long corridor. “And I thought your room was smaller than mine!” she murmured in awe.

Without giving any warning, Theodore swiftly picked up Adeline in his arms and began to walk inside of the secret entrance. “I hope you don’t mind me carrying you when no one is watching us,” Theodore whispered with a devilish smirk on his face.

Adeline knew that this was coming sooner or later. So she wrapped her arms around Theodore’s neck and rested her head on his broad and warm chest. And she whispered back, “No, I don’t mind it now.”

Adeline noticed that there were several doors along the corridor. She was waiting for Theodore to enter inside one of those rooms but he kept on walking ahead. “What are all these rooms for?” Adeline was interested to know.

“These are the rooms for my special guests if they ever decide to come to visit me,” Theodore replied with a mirthless smile.

Adeline wanted to know who those special guests were but she decided not to ask seeing Theodore’s grim expression. Everyone had their own secrets and Adeline did not want to pry on someone’s personal matter if they were uncomfortable in telling it.

Finally, Theodore and Adeline arrived in front of a large white door. The door had beautiful carvings of winged creatures, which were painted in golden color. Adeline thought that they were the carvings of angels or some beings from heaven.

The door opened on its own when Theodore stood in front of it, revealing a huge room filled with all kinds of books, scrolls, paintings, objects, and weapons. In the center of the room, there was a huge desk and a chair. It was Theodore’s study room where he would come and spend hours of his time.

Theodore let Adeline down on her feet. And the first thing that Adeline noticed was a frame that was hung on the wall, which was right in front of the door. The frame had a drawing of a matchstick man and a matchstick girl. On top of that drawing, two names were written – Theodore and Adeline.

Adeline pointed at the drawing on the wall and stuttered, “Is-isn’t that… isn’t that my drawing?”

Theodore admiringly stared at the drawing and then said, “Yes, that is your drawing which I stole from your drawing book a decade ago. It is your first masterpiece, so it is one of my prized possessions.”

It was apparent that Theodore was very proud of that drawing. He especially liked it because it also had Adeline’s handwriting on it.

Adeline had not even noticed yet that a page from her drawing book was missing. She vaguely remembered drawing that when she was a child. And after drawing it she had never reopened those books which were just full of her scribbles.

And here, Theodore was saying that one of those same scribbles that she had made in her childhood was his prized possession.. And on top of that, he had even framed it and hung it on his secret walls.