Chapter 57 - The Ghoul
Adeline thought that she could bear to hear the answer of Theodore to her most dreaded question. But when he said that he had been with so many women that he had lost the count, Adeline just lost it. And when she heard him say the words \'mere mortal women\', her blood started to boil.
So in the fit of her rage, she thought of returning back to the Palace by walking. She was ready to walk for hours during the night and through the difficult terrain of the hill, rather than stay another second with Theodore.
So she jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room and out of the safe space. Yes, safe space. Theodore\'s room and the garden were the only safe spaces inside the Devil\'s Cave.
She was only safe with the Devil himself because the cave was full of several creatures… dark creatures.
Excluding the human maids and servants, there were a total of 72 mystical creatures residing inside the cave. They were all followers and servants of Theodore but none of them had any idea about Adeline.
And that was the reason why Theodore was terrified. He was terrified that his followers would harm Adeline. Or worse, if she was found by human\'s flesh eating phantom called ghoul, then it would tear Adeline apart in a matter of seconds.
Theodore had given strict order to the ghoul saying that it was not allowed to feast on the humans who worked inside the cave. But he had not given the same order regarding Adeline. He regretted not introducing Adeline to all of his 72 followers and 14 humans.
"Adeline… Adeline… stop where you are and come back." He was frantically looking here and there for the sign of Adeline and was shouting hoping that she would listen to him and return back.
He ran through the dark corridor and finally reached to the well-lit area. His servants and followers used most of the rooms and some of them were used for purposes like kitchen, recreation, training, and more.
Theodore ran across a winged creature called Blood Fairy and stopped her. Then he roared in a frightening voice, "Have you seen a human female walking from here?"
The Blood Fairy did not even dare to look at him and just bowed her head in fear, "No Master."
Theodore immediately ran forward in search of his foolish human. Next, he came across a human maid and asked her in the same threatening voice, "Did you see a human female just now?"
"I have not, master" the maid replied in a trembling voice.
Theodore was now shouting to himself and was running around desperately, "Why did I have to lie to her? I could have just said the truth. I had to ruin everything, didn\'t I? Now where could she be? She is definitely not faster than me, so where is she hiding? Or is someone purposely hiding her?"
"Or did Izel already find her?" Theodore then turned around and went towards the room of Izel, the Ghoul.
Izel had really keen sense of smell, especially when it came to humans. He could tell by smelling which of the humans would taste the best. Normally, he would just rob the graves of the dead so as not to raise fear among the nearby villages. It was strictly forbidden by Theodore. But Theodore had not said anything about not harming an intruder. And right now, as Adeline had not been introduced to anyone and as she did not walk inside the cave from the front gate with Theodore, she would be deemed as an intruder.
Theodore quickly reached outside of Izel\'s door. Then he flung open the door to check if he had already taken Adeline as a hostage.
And to his horror, Adeline was pinned down on the floor ready to be turned into a meal. And when she saw Theodore at the door, tears fell down through her scared eyes like waterfall.
Though Adeline had powers of Theodore flowing through her, it would only protect her from magic attacks and not physical attacks. And though Adeline was strong, she was not strong enough to take down a Ghoul on her own.
The Ghoul had long and thin body structure as if he was starved of proper meal from hundreds of years. His feet had three toes each and his hands also had three fingers each.
His fingers were very long and were very pointed at the tip, which was his perfect weapon to tear off the flesh from the humans. His teeth were as sharp as knives and his eyes looked as if it would scare the living human to death. To sum up, he looked like a nasty creature from a nightmare.
There were several scratches on Adeline\'s arms and stomach from the long and sharp fingers of the Ghoul. One of the fingers of Izel had pierced through Adeline\'s hand and was still inside. Blood was oozing out from the wound and was accumulating on the floor.
And when Theodore saw the condition that Adeline was in, he lost his control. In a deep and menacing voice he roared at the Ghoul, "Izel! Leave her" and then without even giving Izel a chance to stand up and get away, Theodore sprinted towards him and threw a punch.
And with just a single punch, Izel flew in the air and his body slammed against the wall really hard. Izel spitted blood from his mouth. He seemed to be badly injured.
Theodore was still not satisfied by just throwing him a single punch for nearly eating his beloved. He wanted to kill Izel. But he controlled himself and directed his glance at Adeline.
His little human seemed to have put up quite a fight with the Ghoul to have survived long enough for him to find her. If she was not strong enough, then the first thing that Izel would have sliced through was her neck.
Theodore picked Adeline up in his arms with great care. And before leaving the room, he glanced at the wounded Ghoul and said in an intimidating voice, "This is my woman. You are not to lay a single finger on her. If I ever find you putting even a single scratch on her, I will kill you myself."
The Ghoul did not even dare to speak and just bowed to his master.
Theodore carried Adeline out of the Ghoul\'s room and then walked towards his own room. On the way, Theodore\'s several followers and maids saw him carrying a female human as if she was a delicate little flower.
In their long lives, none of them had ever seen Theodore talking nicely to a woman. And now they were witnessing something so unlikely of their master. He was caring so much about a woman that he was carrying her; the person who despised a single touch from others was carrying her!
Theodore took Adeline straight to the fountain and slowly submerged her in the water. And almost immediately, her wounds and scratches were completely healed. Seeing her completely fine, his eyes finally changed back from burning red to golden.
Theodore took her out of the water and carried her in his arms again. Then he stepped out of the fountain with Adeline and started to walk towards his room.
Adeline felt rejuvenated after getting out of the water. She felt as if even the energy in her body were restored. So she asked with curiosity, "What kind of water is this? Is it magic?"
Theodore chuckled and then said in his soft voice, "You nearly got killed by a Ghoul and that is the first question you ask? Well, this is the fountain of eternal youth. It can heal you and keep you young forever."
Adeline nodded and then asked again, "Is that why you look so young?"
"No! I look young because I am young.." Theodore replied with a wide smile.