She Belongs To The Devil

Adeline was stunned to hear that a fight was going on in a happy place like this and it was escalating. "What is happening outside? And why do you say that a riot is going to happen?"

The guard quickly briefed the Princess about the situation outside, "The villagers were having some dispute with the tax collectors. And the Royal Guards began to thrash them with whips. The villagers are fighting back. So I don\'t think it is safe for Your Highness to stay here for any longer."

Adeline narrowed her eyes with anger. She had not even imagined in her wildest dreams that she would be hearing about this kind of cruel power display from the Royal guards. "Why would the Royal Guards beat the villagers? Are they even allowed to do that on their own accord? Or is someone ordering them to do that?"

The guard was showing some reluctance to answer that question of the Princess. Or rather, he was somewhat afraid.

"Answer me!" Adeline ordered the guard in a stern voice. She was about to lose her calm.

The guard bowed his head and answered the Princess, "Those guards are under the control of the First Prince. And they do whatever the Prince orders them to do."

Adeline was outraged to hear that Lillian\'s son was oppressing the villagers. And she screamed out of frustration, "What? First Prince is giving out those orders?"

Adeline rose up from her seat while mumbling in anger, "I will have to teach a lesson to both of these mother and son. One is terrorizing the Palace while the other is terrorizing the village."

"Is the First Prince outside?" Adeline asked in fury. "I will teach him a lesson right here and right now." She was already thinking of challenging Prince Edwin in front of all the villagers.

But the guards stepped in front of the Princess and blocked her way while apologetically bowing their heads. One of the guards spoke in a firm voice, "I\'m afraid you cannot do that, Your Highness. The First Prince is not here as of now."

The Princess ordered again, "Then take me where those Royal Guards are at the moment. Let me scold them and put their thick brain back in their places. They will have to be punished for their behavior."

But the guards did not even move an inch. They were still blocking her way by standing on the door.

"If the villagers find out that you are a Princess, they might take out their anger on you as well. So it is not appropriate for you to go out there." The guards were not going to allow the Princess to do stupid things that would put her in danger.

Agnes and Sibyl were also listening to the whole conversation between the Princess and the guards.

Agnes walked over to the side of the Princess and gently placed her hand on the Princess\'s shoulder to calm her down. Then she gave a piece of advice to her, "If you really want them to get punished then you may inform the King about what they did to the villagers. If my guess is right then the King has no idea what goes on in the village. These kinds of issues never reach the King."

"You mean these things keep on happing often?" Adeline turned behind to face Agnes and asked while breathing heavily.

Agnes nodded her head and briefed the Princess, "Yes, I have heard complaints from the villagers that the tax officers charge them higher tax than what the King has decreed. And if the villagers deny paying the extra tax, the guards that come along with those officers harass them, beat them, and trash their shops, and whatnot."

Adeline was quivering with fury. She wanted to go out there right now and beat those filthy guards to a pulp so that they would never be able to raise their hands on the innocent people ever again. But she remembered what Theodore had said to her time and again.

He had told her to sit back and think calmly rather than taking any action in the heat of the moment. Because in fury, she might do things that she would come to regret later on.

So she turned to her guards and said, "Let\'s go to the Palace for now. We will come to investigate this later and I will put forth the issue to the King with all the evidence. Don\'t speak about this to anyone else in the Palace for now. I don\'t want the First Prince to silence the villagers beforehand if he senses that I am going to find evidence against his dirty actions."

"Yes, Your Highness. We will keep that in mind." The guards finally stepped aside and let the Princess pass.

Before leaving, Adeline turned back to see Agnes and said, "If you can find all the victims and heal them, I would be really grateful to you."

"Sure, Your Highness." Agnes smiled softly and bowed to the Princess. She was glad to know that not all of the Princes and Princesses were wicked and corrupt. There was someone in the Palace who cared about the villagers as much as the current King does.

Adeline was outside of the shop, she looked around and saw that there was a commotion going on. The villagers had gathered on the street and were surrounding some people in the middle. The guards were protecting someone from the villager\'s attacks.

She saw one of the villagers raising his fist and shouting at the top of his lungs, "We are going to crush them today."

And another villager instantly added fuel to the burning fire, "Yes, we are not going to endure their atrocity anymore. This ends today! Let\'s treat them how they have been treating us."

"Yes, let\'s beat them." The other villagers were supporting and were trying to get their hands on the guards and the tax officers.

Adeline took a deep breath of relief to see that the villagers were not being beaten anymore. The table had already turned. She hoped that the villagers would teach the corrupt tax officers and guards a lesson.

She hated turning a blind eye and walking away but she felt that it was the right thing to do at the moment. The guards were now closely walking behind the Princess. They did not care if they looked like they were stalking a helpless lady, they just wished that they would get out of the village soon. They did not want any harm to befall the Princess.

From between the crowd, someone was staring in the direction of the Princess who was surrounded by the Royal Guards.

Even though all of them were in disguise, that person recognized who the Princess was. And that person spoke under their breath, "What is she doing out of the Palace? I hope she does not do anything stupid like informing the King about this situation.. Or else… she is going to be in real trouble."