27

Adrian's POV

I walked into the garden, and as I had guessed, Mila was sitting there, calm as usual and touching flowers. I walked over to her with mixed feelings. Would it be nice to walk up to her and accuse her of something as huge as this? Well, all evidence was pointing to her. She was the only winged demon in the forest yesterday. Was it possible it wasn't her? It wouldn't make sense if it wasn't her. But why would she kill someone in her rage? If I had gone into the forest earlier to look for her, all these wouldn't have happened.

As if sensing my presence, she turned her head in my direction but turned back around after a little nod of her head, indicating she was paying her respect. Mila had never bowed to me or anything of the sort. What was going through her head? Did she remember what she did?

"Mila. We need to talk," I uttered

"What is there to talk about? It's your life. Live it as you want," she replied, barely sparing me a glance.

I scoffed. Does she think I am here to apologize for what she saw yesterday? I didn't have the time to do such. Even if I wanted to apologize, I wouldn't come all the way here to do that. We sleep in the same bed for goodness sake. I could easily just do that at night. I don't need to walk all the way here just so I could render a damn apology.

"I didn't come here for that," I said, sitting opposite her on the garden bench.

She seemed to have noticed something as she sat upright and stared at me expectantly.

"What then is it?" she probed.

I sighed.

"What happened when you went into the forest yesterday?" I asked.

She seemed to grow uneasy at the intensity of my gaze. I was staring intently at her, watching her every body movement to know if she was lying or not.

"Umm...why do you want to know?" she asked.

I held in the growing anger. Why did I want to know? She killed someone for Pete's sake and she has the damn guts to ask me why I wanted to know?

"Just tell me," I gritted my teeth.

"How did you know I went into the forest?" she asked, as if she was realizing something.

Something was off about the way she spoke. She didn't bother to snap at me or make me angry. She just talked coldly.

"Please don't make this long. Just tell me what I need to know," I ordered

"Well, I went into the forest to cool my head and I didn't realize it was midnight already," she stared and paused to look at me. "You know what happens at midnight right?"

I nodded and gestured for her to go on.

"Well, I think I must have changed and that is all I can remember. The next thing I remember, I woke up in bed," she finalized.

"So you're telling me you can't remember what went on inside that forest," I asked

She nodded

"Did I do something bad?" she asked, raising a brow, as if questioning me.

"You killed someone, Mila," I finally answered after a long pause.

She stared at me as if trying to catch on to the joke I had just said and started laughing.

"You are crazy, you know that? That was the best joke I've heard so far," she cracked.

"This isn't a joke," I said sternly.

She looked at me with bulging eyes.

"I didn't kill anyone," she defended.

"You said you didn't remember," I tried to reason with her

"Yes. But that doesn't mean I killed someone. I would never do something like that," she whispered, as if scared someone was going to catch onto our conversation.

"How would you know?" I squinted my eyes at her.

"I have never hurt anyone before. I can't even harm a fly. And all of a sudden I'm killing someone? That's total madness," she said, covering her mouth with her palm

"I understand what you're saying. But you weren't you yesterday. You were something else," I explained to her

"No. There's no way I could have killed anyone," she snapped.

"You don't know that," I replied, already getting frustrated with all this. She was in denial about who she truly was. She is a winged demon for crying out loud.

"I know that," she replied and walked toward my seat. "When I was with you in the room, did I hurt you?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, but...." I began but she chimed in.

"You see my point? I can't hurt anyone," she yelled

"Don't yell. Someone might hear you," I warned.

She slowly sat down beside me.

"Please believe me. I killed no one," she said

I was having a hard time believing her.

"I can't believe you," I replied, biting my lips.

"You think I'm a murderer," she mumbled.

"You killed a maid in the palace and her sister is traumatized," I continued

"How sure are you that I am the one?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" I inquired

"I mean, there may be someone else in the forest. It might not be me," she tried to see reasons with me.

"The sister explained who the murderer was. And her description fits you perfectly," I said

"So what are you going to do to me? Put me in a dungeon?" she asked, her voice dropping. Although she tried her best to hide her fear, I could see through her that she was trembling. She couldn't remember anything from last night. It would be unfair to put her in prison. It'll also be unfair not to find justice for the deceased. I guess I just have to find another way to do things. I obviously can't throw Mila in the dungeon.

"No," I finally said.

Her eyes widened. "No?" she asked

"I won't put you in the dungeon now. But you have to do two things for me," I spoke.

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes glazing with relief.

"You are not going to tell anyone about your other self. You know what I'm talking about," I said

"I won't," she said, raising her hand to assure me.

"And you will never step foot outside at night. You will always be locked up in the room once it's almost midnight. You'll only be let out once you've learned to control your powers," I stated.

"That's much better than being thrown in a dungeon," she gleefully said.

"Please adhere to these rules so we won't have any more accidents in the palace. If anyone sees you in your form, I won't be blamed for what would befall you," I spoke

"Thank you. What are you going to do about the maid?" she asked, sadness leaking from her voice.

"That shouldn't be your concern. Just make sure something like this doesn't happen again," I coldly replied and stood up to leave.

Just as I made the first step, I felt little hands wrapped around me. She was hugging me.

"Thank you for showing a little mercy," she thanked.

I felt a little thing in my heart. I unwrapped her hands from me and walked out without looking back. Although I felt the urge to turn around and kiss her, I knew I had to keep my distance from her for now.

I didn't know why I even gave her all these rules. That was the only way to know if she was telling the truth of not being the culprit. If she is indoors at midnight and all these things happen again, I'll be rest assured it was her. My conscience was telling me to believe her and assure her that all was going to be fine. But deep down, I knew I didn't believe her, and all wasn't going to be fine. I would have to explain to Max what I would do to help the victim's family with this tragic loss. I couldn't just go and tell them that my breeder was the one responsible for causing such pain to them when I wasn't even sure if she was telling the truth or not.

I must admit, I felt angry at her. I wanted to just throw her out of my pack. My emotions are not stable. One minute I fancy her, and the next, she is a pain in the ass. I just don't know what to do at this point.

When she was trying to convince me that it washed her responsibility for the murder, her eyes spoke the truth. There was sincerity and Innocence in her eyes. I wanted to believe her but the evidence was there. The maids could the lying as no one had ever heard of a monster living In the forest, so the maid could t have made up such a story. The only thing he needed to find out was if Mila was the culprit or not, as she had claimed, and how to prevent more of this from happening.

For now, there was only one thing he must do.