She Belongs To The Devil

"Lillian had also killed one of my coven members named Esther. She also used to serve Lillian together with me. But when Esther confronted Lillian saying that she had killed someone we knew, she was found dead in the Ethereal River."

Agnes clenched her fists with anger because there were several such evil things that Lillian had done to the people that she knew. "I also happened to find another one of Lillian\'s maids. Thankfully, she was not dead. But Lillian had brutally snatched out her tongue."

Adeline widened her eyes because she had seen Lillian carving out a maid\'s tongue in the memory that Theodore had shown her. And she knew who Agnes was talking about. She was that same maid that was asked to pass on the wrong information to Hawisa and Osanna, and after that, she had disappeared from the Palace. Adeline was somewhat glad to know that she was still alive.

Agnes shared their coven\'s story with Adeline. She told her how they were sent by the King of Frostford to take care of Lillian secretly, and how they had joined in as Lillian\'s maids. Then how they witnessed Lillian turning from a sweet lady to a terrifying witch, and how they were threatened to be killed if they didn\'t leave her alone.

Adeline felt pity for them. The coven did not have any evil intention towards Lillian, they were just taking care of her from the order of the King. And in the end, Lillian had rained her wrath upon them, she had even killed one of them.

When the two of them were talking, there was a knock on the door. "Just one moment, Princess. I think it is a customer, I will ask them to wait for a while," Agnes got up from her chair and went to open the door.

Agnes saw that it was not a customer but it was her coven member. She smiled and gestured for that person to come inside. Agnes quickly grabbed a stool from the waiting room and then brought it inside the room where she was sitting with the Princess.

She put down the stool beside her own chair and asked the lady to sit down.

Agnes looked at the Princess and said, "This is my coven member, Sibyl. She is the same person that I was talking about earlier, she cannot speak." Then she looked at the lady and whispered something to her in her ear.

Sibyl covered her mouth with both of her hands and her eyes were all teary. She looked at Adeline with sorry eyes so Adeline guessed that Agnes told Sibyl who she was.

It looked as though Sibyl regretted following the order from Lillian that day. But what else could she have done when the Queen had ordered her, she couldn\'t have denied the orders no matter how morally corrupt they were.

Adeline smiled at Sibyl and said in a soft voice, "It\'s okay." Adeline already knew everything so there was no need for her to be angry at that ex-maid. All she felt was pity towards that lady.

Sibyl frantically looked around at the desk and around the room. She was searching for something so Agnes asked her, "What are you searching for?" and Sibyl gestured to her that she was looking for something to write on.

Agnes opened the drawer of her desk and then took out a white sheet of paper, and writing brush, and ink. And she handed them over to Sibyl, "Here you go."

As soon as Sibyl got the paper and brush, she began to write something on it. And then she showed it to the Princess.

Adeline read it out loud, "I don\'t know if you remember me but I also played a crucial part in your kidnapping when you were still very small."

Adeline shook her head and politely said, "Sibyl, it was not you who had kidnapped me. It was Lillian who was the mastermind behind the whole thing."

And Sibyl wrote something again and showed it to the Princess, "Had I not blindly followed Lillian\'s order, you wouldn\'t have been kidnapped."

The Princess shifted her chair closer to Sibyl and empathetically looked into her eyes. She did not want Sibyl to feel guilty about something that had happened decades ago, "But there was nothing you could have done. If you had not followed her order then maybe she would have done something bad to you at that very moment."

"She did it anyway. Had I denied her beforehand, at least I wouldn\'t have had to bear this constant regret for being a part of your kidnapping. To this date, I still regret what I did that day. Will you please forgive me?" Sibyl showed the paper again with eyes full of remorse.

Adeline held Sibyl\'s hand and tried to console her, "I wasn\'t even angry at you in the first place. I am not even angry with General Osmond who took me to the Devil\'s Cave. Both of you were used by Lillian as puppets. She harmed both of you. You two were just as much her victim as me. So, don\'t be sorry for the crime that you didn\'t commit."

Sibyl looked down on the floor and began to drop tears. After years, she finally felt relieved to hear those words from Adeline. And she mouthed to the Princess while crying, "Thank you!"

She wrote something on the paper again and put it in front of Adeline.

Adeline read it and gave a huge smile to her. "We can work together for that. I have vowed to do the same."

In the paper Sibyl had written, "I could not protect you or go against Lillian at that time. But now I am capable to do both. I promise you that I will put an end to Lillian\'s cruelty."

Sibyl\'s words were not hollow. Among the coven members, she was one of the most gifted and most powerful witches. She was blessed with powers that were far greater than any other witches of her time, almost at par with that of Lillian\'s, and that also without taking help from the dark magic.

The warm and happy moment didn\'t last for long because two of the guards of Adeline barged inside the room and said with haste, "Your Highness, we have to leave now. There is a fight going on outside, and there\'s a chance that it might escalate to riot.. It will be hard to protect you if that happens."