[This is a bribe chapter to ask for forgiveness from my ‘up-to-date readers’. Please Forgive 😀

If you are reading this chapter on the 28th or 29th of September, 2021, then please re-read from chapter 90 (Teasing). I realized that I had missed publishing a chapter in the middle so had to edit few things in other subsequent chapters as well to match the word count.

If you go back and find that you’ve read the same chapters then you’ve probably read the edited ones already.]

It was already getting late so both Theodore and Adeline wanted to lay down to get a good night’s sleep. Adeline climbed on the bed and tucked herself in a soft and light blanket. Theodore also snuggled down beside his woman and closed his eyes.

But Theodore suddenly remembered that he had some questions for her. So he nudged Adeline who was also closing her eyes and whispered to her, “Adeline, why were you in such a pain earlier in the evening? It felt as though my heart was going to burst from the pain. What happened in that good witch’s room?”

Adeline had already forgotten about the prophecy that Agnes had told her. But now that Theodore asked her about it, she was gloomy all over again.

She replied in a sad voice, “Agnes did my fortune reading. And she told me that she saw a lot of deaths around me.”

Her eyes were filled with tears as she was reminded of her mother. She sniffed and spoke in a broken voice, “I have already seen a fair share of deaths of my loved ones. And I can’t handle some more. I don’t want anyone around me to have a similar fate as my mother.”

It was needless to say that Theodore was also feeling her pain. He lifted her head and placed his arm under Adeline’s neck so that she could use it as her pillow. Then he pulled Adeline closer to his chest and began caressing her hair.

In an attempt to comfort Adeline, he gave some words of advice to her, “Adeline, you have to understand that prophecies do not always come true. They can be avoided.”

“They can be avoided?” Adeline gave a questioning yet hopeful look to Theodore.

Theodore kept on caressing her hair and affirmed, “Yes, they can be avoided. Prophecies are nothing more than your tentative future.”

Adeline believed that there was only one possible future and it was already decided when one would take birth. So she asked in confusion, “What do you mean by tentative future?”

“Your future is not set in stone like most of the human believe it to be. God is not the keeper of your future, you yourself are responsible for your future. So your future keeps on changing with every decision that you make or every choice that you avoid.” Theodore explained the detail to Adeline.

Theodore’s words were making Adeline’s pre-set belief about fate, future, and prophecies to crumble down.

Theodore gave out more details to the Princess, “However, if you keep on obsessing too much about such prophecies, then you are bound to attract those bad things in your life. But if you just take it as a warning rather than consciously leading your actions towards it, then you can easily avoid it.”

Theodore knew that better than anyone else because he had made one of his worst visions come true by consciously making choices that lead to his downfall, quite literally.

His reassuring words gave Adeline some hope. She let out a sigh of relief and decided to take that prophecy as a warning signal rather than something set in stone.

“You can smile now.” Theodore poked on Adeline’s cheek where her dimple would appear when she would smile. “You can prevent the deaths that the witch was talking about. So don’t think too much about it. And don’t hurt me.”

His last sentence made her chuckle. It was still strange to her that her extreme feelings would also affect Theodore. “I’m sorry,” she said with a grin.

“Don’t be sorry. I like it when I know how you are feeling. At least that way, you can’t hide your true feelings from me. Now, let’s get some sleep.” Theodore smiled and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep.

They were both quiet for some time. Adeline kept on staring at Theodore for a while.

Adeline also had a question in her mind. It was not that important question but she still wanted to ask him. “Theo…”

“Hmm…” Theodore hummed without opening his eyes.

And Adeline asked him the question that had been itching her, “How come you didn’t take me in as your maid when I came here years ago? I mean… I don’t want to be your maid or something, but… you know what I mean. You returned me to my Palace instead of keeping me here like the others, why?”

Theodore could not help but chuckle at such a silly question. “Are you pouting because I didn’t keep you here with me?”

Adeline hid her face in Theodore’s chest and gave out a muffled cry, “No… It’s not that. I just wanted to know what prompted you to return me.”

Theodore smiled and said, “Let’s just say that I was moved by the father-daughter bond. You kept on talking about your father while you were here. You seemed to love your father very dearly. And you told me that you were a Princess. So that made me think that maybe you were kidnapped by the King’s enemy.”

“You were right to think that!” Adeline raised her brows and stated the obvious.

Theodore nodded his head and continued, “So I went to the Palace to check what kind of a man your father was. I saw that he was very worried about you, he had turned the whole Palace upside down in search of you. And I did not want to take that love away from you by keeping you here.”

“By the way, I also wanted to ask you, whom did you go to the market with?” Theodore knew that Adeline was not closer to anyone else other than Nigel. And now that Nigel had already left for another Kingdom, he wanted to know which brothers and sisters she was with.

Adeline happily replied, “I went there with five of my half-siblings – Nefriti, Claudia, Kaela, Raphael, and Gustin. They invited me to join their group so I thought that I could get to know them better and went along.”

Theodore gave a surprised look and said, “Huh! And I thought that you were bad at making new friends.” But he was happy that she was not sulking about Nigel leaving anymore, and he was happy that she was making an effort to mingle with other siblings of hers.

“Okay, let’s sleep for real now.” Theodore ruffled Adeline’s silver hair and gave a peck on Adeline’s forehead. And Adeline gave him the sweetest smile and then cuddled with him.. And both of them finally went to get some sleep after the eventful day.