Chapter 396 - Uncovering Lies
After cleaning the floor, Osanna looked to check if Adeline was done with her food. As expected of Adeline, she had already cleaned all of her plates and bowls.
So Osanna cleared Adeline\'s bed table and asked, "Shall I bring some food for Prince Theodore as well?"
Adeline recalled how he had commented about the soup and remembered him saying he was in the underworld. "Yes, bring him something hot and tasty. I bet he hasn\'t had his dinner yet."
"I thought so too. I will be right back." Osanna then went back to bring some more food.
Though it was way past midnight, almost everyone in the Palace was still awake because of the terrifying incident of today. They were all on their guard. Thus, it was easier for Osanna to ask the chefs to heat up some more food every now and then.
Osanna returned with food in no time. She set the bed table beside Adeline and placed the food. And she also took out a blanket from the wardrobe in case Theodore needed it later on. She handed it over to Adeline while saying, "Your fiancé might need it if he decides to stay over."
Adeline\'s ear turned red as she took that blanket from Osanna\'s hand. Thankfully her ears were covered by her hair.
"I will go and stay with Hawisa. She has woken up but she still looks a little disoriented." Osanna hinted to Adeline that she wouldn\'t be back to disturb the two of them.
Adeline nodded her head and said, "Sure. Both of you should also have something to eat and rest for the night. It\'s already too late."
"Goodnight Adeline," Osanna greeted Adeline before she left with a wide smile on her face.
After waiting for a while, Theodore was finally back in the room. He had discarded his dirty clothes and was covering his lower body with the towel.
He furrowed his brows when he saw the table full of food and asked, "What are these food doing here? Didn\'t you eat?"
"Oh, I had it brought for you. You must be hungry," Adeline replied while patting on the bed and asking him to sit down.
Theodore got on the bed and wriggled inside the blanket.
"Here, let me help you," Adeline covered his upper body with the blanket that Osanna had given her earlier. She also gathered his long and wet hair and secured them at the back so that they wouldn\'t interfere while he would eat.
Theodore felt overwhelmed by the warm gesture from Adeline. And he couldn\'t help but ask, "Aren\'t you angry with me?"
"Why would I be angry at you? For protecting me and my father? For protecting this Kingdom?" Adeline pretended not to know why he was asking that question. She smiled at him and said, "Have the food first. And then let\'s talk while lying down."
However, Theodore couldn\'t keep on pushing the conversation that they would ultimately need to have. So he insisted on talking and asked, "You know what I mean, Adeline. You heard the conversation between me and my father, didn\'t you?"
Adeline was also equally stubborn as him. So she picked up the fork and picked up a piece of boiled potato. And she held the fork in front of his mouth, "Open your mouth."
Theodore took in a deep breath without averting his gaze from Adeline\'s face. He gently held Adeline\'s hand and ate the food from the fork. He then took the fork from her hand and said, "I don\'t want to make you take care of me when I should be the one doing so. Please lie down. I will finish everything in no time."
Adeline wasn\'t at the best of her health yet. So she smiled and nodded her head before lying down beside him. She kept on watching her man gobble down the food as fast as he could.
After he was done eating, he put the table in a corner and got back inside the bed. He lay down beside Adeline and tucked himself inside the blanket.
Theodore\'s face was already clouded by resentment towards himself.
So, before he could say anything bad about himself and start apologizing again, Adeline held his hand and asked him, "Theo, He said that you prevented my father\'s death. Why didn\'t you tell me about it… that my father\'s life was in danger and you saved him?"
Theodore tightened his grip on Adeline\'s hand. He had hidden things from Adeline and now it was going to be out in the open. He hoped that Adeline wouldn\'t get angry at him for hiding those things from her until now.
And he blurted out the instances he had interfered with Dragomir\'s fate, "The first time, it was your sixteenth birthday and I didn\'t want to make you sad on your birthday. The second time, your eligibility test was right around the corner. And I didn\'t want to distract you and keep you from achieving your dream. And third, well you already know it. I took him to the fountain."
Adeline felt a pinch in her heart knowing that Theodore had done so much for her without her asking it from him.
And she curiously asked him, "What kind of danger was he facing? Did he already have a heart problem two years back? I remember him getting tired very quickly when he had danced with me on my sixteenth birthday."
Theodore pressed his lips into a thin line and narrowed his eyes. "It was Lillian."
Adeline\'s face dropped the moment she heard Lillian\'s name.
Theodore explained what she had done to the King, "The time I saw him in your birthday, I saw traces of dark energy in his body. It was slowly making him sick but the symptoms were so unnoticeable that it could have passed as the effects of old age. I had absorbed the dark energy from him at that time."
"And the second time, Lillian broke the boundaries, quite literally. She summoned a succubus from Hell and was making it devour your father\'s life force. But I–"
"What?" Adeline abruptly interrupted him and asked, "You mean she was actually harming my father when she had drawn that magic circle around the Palace?"
Theodore nodded his head apologetically and added, "I lied to you and also made Agnes lie for me. I\'m sorry I did that. But I had already taken care of the problem. I threatened that succubus to drain the life force out of Edwin instead of your father. That was why Edwin was on the verge of dying before the test."
Adeline widened her eyes and was dumbfounded to learn that Theodore was behind that condition of Edwin.
Suddenly, something struck her mind. She looked at Theodore and asked, "Wait! Was that woman with horns, wings, and tail the one you are calling a succubus? The one I thought you were…"
"Cheating on you with?" Theodore chuckled and agreed, "Yes, she was that succubus. When you saw us that night, I was actually ordering her to suck the life out of Edwin. You got so mad at me that night. We had our first fight, remember?"
Theodore added while remembering that night\'s incident and chuckling, "You were so jealous of that succubus. I was afraid that you would stab me with your sword."
"Hey! I was not jealous! And I was definitely not going to stab you. I was just… going to poke you but I resisted," Adeline pouted like a baby. Recalling that night now after knowing the truth, she felt very embarrassed of herself.
And seeing her cheeks turning red, Theodore started to laugh even louder. And he teased her further, "So you were going to poke me, huh?"
Adeline buried her face in her pillow and started to laugh as well.