Chapter 9: Catching Up

The maid quickly moved her feet and led the King towards the one place where no one thought that the Princess would be found, in her own chamber. Seeing the maid leading him to Adeline's room, the King furrowed his brows and asked, "Where exactly did you find the Princess?"

The maid was quick to give a reply, "I found the Princess in her own chamber, Your Majesty." Her heart rate was escalating when she gave the answer. She feared that the King would immediately lash out on her for not checking the room properly before.

But to the maid's surprise, King Dragomir didn't say a word. He walked faster and was now ahead of the maid.

As the King approached the Princess's room, he could hear his beloved daughter crying. His heart stung when he heard that and moved at a faster pace. Soon he was inside the Princess's chamber and he could see the pieces of vase that was scattered all over the floor. He shifted his gaze towards the Princess who was now starting to calm down after seeing her father, whom she was longing to meet.

The King quickly picked up the Princess and lovingly held her in his arms. She was lost for a few hours and he was ready to ransack heaven and hell for her. And now that he could finally hold his daughter, his happiness knew no bounds.

A drop of tear made its way down the King's cheek. The King dismissed the maid who was standing behind him with the wave of his hand. He didn't want anyone to see him getting emotional and consider him to be weak.

The maid understood the hand gesture of the King and locked the door as she went away.

Theodore, who was watching this father-daughter reunion from one of the corners of the room, also thought that he should give them some privacy. He took one last look of Adeline who was clinging onto her father before teleporting back to his humble abode. And then he vanished from the room.

Adeline was loosely hugging her father around his neck with her small hands while resting her head on his shoulder. The King caressed his daughter's soft hair and finally spoke, "Where were you Adeline?"

"I was looking for you but I found Prince Theodore. He was very nice to me. He even told me a story and let me sleep on his bed." Adeline replied while still laying her head on her father's shoulder.

The King did not recall having any son named Theodore. So in confusion he asked, "Who is Prince Theodore? Is he one of your brothers?"

"No! He is not my brother." Princess Adeline chuckled after saying this and continued, "He said he is a Devil Prince. He lives on top of the hill."

A cold shiver ran down King Dragomir's spine upon hearing the words 'Devil Prince'. He knew that if the Devil Prince wanted to take over his Kingdom, he could do so in an instant. That was why no one dared to go to the Hill of Grimmer Death and annoy the Devil Prince.

But he gathered his composure thinking that the Princess might have just heard some maids talk about the Devil Prince and where he lives, and she might have dreamt about it.

The news that Princess Adeline was found spread inside the Palace like wildfire. The maid of Queen Lillian rushed inside the private chamber of the Queen. The Queen was lying down on her comfortable bed, thinking that now she had one less problem to take care of. She was imagining the Devil devouring the love child of her husband.

Her imagination was interrupted by her maid who had just dashed into the room and was huffing and puffing while trying to speak. "Your Majesty, I… I just… just heard that they found Princess Adeline."

The queen sat straight up on her bed after she heard the 'bad news'. And she growled in her anger, "What did you just say? They found that child? Where?"

The maid was now bowing before the Queen fearing that Lillian might take out the anger on her. Then she started to stammer, "I hea… heard that… that they found her in her own room."

Lillian slammed both her fists on her bed and shouted, "How is that even possible? Where is General Osmond?" Lillian gave a dead stare to the maid. If the maid was looking directly in her eyes, she might have fainted out of fear.

The maid flinched when she heard the Queen slamming her fist and growling. No one liked being around Lillian when she was in her fury because they were scared of her witchcraft. Who knew what she might do to the person in front of her when she was furious.

The maid whimpered in a low voice, "I don't think he is back in the Palace yet, Your Majesty. If he had then he would have come straight to you to break the spell."

"If he is not back in the Palace yet then how is the Princess here already? And just who was able to break her invisibility spell? I had cast the most powerful spell on her." It was a good thing that her quarter was almost in a secluded area. Else others might have heard her shouting at the poor maid.

"Once the General arrives in the Palace, bring him to me immediately. I want to know why he failed. And if he thought that he could trick me in any way, I will make sure that he will repay for angering me." Lillian gritted her teeth and her eyes were full of rage. She was the female embodiment of evil.

Her maid bowed and quickly ran out of the room. She did not want to endanger her life by staying for more time than what was necessary.

The King and the Princess were now sitting on the bed chatting and laughing occasionally.

"Prince Theodore was really beautiful. And he smiled at me and played with me. I want to play with him again." The Princess praised Theodore a lot when she was explaining about her tiring but wonderful journey.

The King laughed and said, "Is that so? Sure, if you meet him again then you can play with him." Dragomir spoke very softly with his daughter, unlike how he spoke to everyone else.

The Princess had already told the King everything in detail. But the King did not know which part to believe and which part to avoid. Children tend to have wild imagination and story-telling ability. So he was confused about her daughter's story about her adventure to the Devil's Cave.

Dragomir ended up assuming that a man had kidnapped her from the Palace but returned her back again, maybe fearing the punishment from him. And everything else that the Princess said was just her dream or her over-active imagination.