She Belongs To The Devil

"Something to do with Edwin? What did you want to warn me about?" Adeline sat down beside Alan as she wanted to hear what he had to say about Edwin.

"You were in the market just a while ago, weren't you?" Alan asked with full surety.

Adeline had not told anyone else other than her maids and her father that she was going to the market. So when Alan said that she was in the market a while ago, the first thing she suspected was that Alan had been spying on her.

Alan and Adeline never had any problems with each other ever before. Alan was always nice and kind to her, unlike Edwin. And Adeline did not see Alan as an enemy even when he was Lillian's son.

But now that he mentioned that she was in the market a while ago, she remembered what Agnes had said to her when she had seen into her future. She had warned the Princess that those whom she called family was the ones who were her enemies.

And Agnes had also warned her not to trust anyone as easily as she did. This made Adeline rethink where Alan stood, could she trust him or should she need to see him as an enemy as well?

Adeline put on her guard and asked without giving away too much, "Yes, I was in the market. Why do you ask? And how do you know?"

"I know because I had seen you along with your guards in the market. I noticed that you were returning back to the Palace in haste. And I have been following you since then." Alan did not look apologetic to have followed his sister without her knowledge. And he did not realize that he sounded as though he really was spying on her.

Adeline raised her brows really questioning his intention and asked, "You have been following me back from the market? Why? Were you spying on me?"

Alan scoffed at that accusation from his sister, "Spying? No… why would I spy on you?"

Adeline raised her shoulders and asked sternly, "I don't know, you tell me."

"No, you got me all wrong sister. I was not spying on you. I just happened to be in the market at the same time as you. And I was worried about you so I began to follow you back to the Palace." Alan tried to clarify his intention behind following Adeline.

Adeline creased her brows and glanced at Nigel, "Worried about me?" And she made an educated guess, "Does it have something to do with Edwin?"

"Yes," Alan was finding it a little difficult to backbite about his own brother but he was afraid that if he didn't tell her anything then several people could be in danger.

So he thought of dropping the warning bit by bit, "I don't know how much you saw in the market or how much you heard, but I guess that you at least noticed the tax officers and the Royal Guards out there?"

Adeline nodded her head and kept her answer to minimum words, "Yes, I did see them."

"And you also saw the commotion that was going on between them and the villagers?" Alan was stating the obvious, he already knew that she had seen the commotion.

"Of course I did." Adeline was finding all his questions stupid, to be honest. The commotion was going on in the open street after all. Who could have missed that?

"And were you going to tell father about that commotion?" Alan was probing into Adeline's thought process.

Adeline was already finding these all to be pointless questions but the more he questioned her, the more she was thinking that Alan was trying to pry some information out of her.

But she answered him anyway, more or less, "I don't know. I was too busy trying to reach to the training ground and I haven't given much thought to the commotion and all."

Alan took a deep breath in and continued, "I was worried that you would inform father about what you saw in the market, about that fighting and everything else that was going on. And I was afraid that if you did so, Edwin would take his anger out on you. He has become like a mad man."

"Not surprising at all, what do you expect from a son of the mad woman?" Adeline wanted to retort to Alan but she didn't want to be mean towards Alan when he also was a son of that same mad woman.

Adeline pretended to not know anything about Edwin being the mastermind behind that extortion and oppression and asked, "Why would Edwin be angry if I informed father about the commotion?"

Alan took a deep breath again and tried to make Adeline understand several things, "I don't know if you were aware of this or not but father has handed over the task of looking after the tax collection to Edwin. And well, umm… he has been hiking the taxes, he had asked the tax collectors to charge more tax to the villagers."

Adeline already knew that but she tried her best to act as though this was the first time that she was hearing that information. "What? Why? Why would he do such a thing?"

Alan shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He looked somewhat sad. And he replied in a low voice, "I don't know why he does that. Maybe because he has already lost his path and his mind."

Adeline didn't know why Alan was telling all this to her. But he was giving away information for free, so she kept on listening to Alan.

"And if you were to inform our father about the commotion, it would have led to an investigation from his order. And several mishaps could have happened. Edwin would either have tried to stop the investigation by hurting the soldiers, or by hurting the villagers and asking them to keep their mouths shut."

Alan kept on explaining the probable outcomes, "If the investigation was carried out discreetly, and if Edwin was found to be guilty, he would have been severely punished by the King."

"That would lead Edwin to carry out an investigation of his own. And if he were to find out that you were the one to give the information to the King, he would have tried to hurt you to get back at you." Alan kept his eyes low on the ground as though he was ashamed to call Edwin his brother.

Adeline had not expected this at all. She had not yet told the King about what was going on in the village behind his back because she wanted to do so after gathering all the pieces of evidence.

But here, Alan was basically telling her that Edwin had already turned into a murderous psychopath as his mother. This made her rethink her plan.. If Edwin was even remotely like his mother then things could go very wrong.