"Oh no, oh no, oh no, my prince why would you set me up like this why would you??" cried Adi internally but her inner turmoil showed clearly on her face.
Maddie was not dumb not to be able to see the fact that Adi was severely uncomfortable and as unbelievable as it sounded, she did not want Adi to feel that way about her at all.
"I see... well is there anything that I can help you with Miss Maddie?" asked Adi as the more she tried to control herself, the more she felt herself shaking and shivering by merely standing in front of Maddie.
"Yes, actually, I want to give you these." said Maddie as she gently shoved the bowl of cookies into Adi's hands knowing fully well that Adi would tread carefully before accepting anything from her.
"What... what... what is it?" asked Adi in fear as she looked down, the bowl was covered and it was hard to see what was inside except she raised it up and checked sides, but she was too scared at the moment to do that, much more less talk about inspecting what Maddie just gave her right in front of her.
That was like signing your own death certificate, she really did not want to get on Maddie's bad side, in fact all she wanted was to get out of here, she did not want to be here at all, but she knew better than to offend Maddie, after her little display of madness just this morning Adi knew not to trigger her.
It had been the talk of the entire staff this morning when she had hurriedly rushed to beg them to ask for her safety since she knew that Maddie would tell Ollie that it was her that revealed everything.
"It's cookies, chocolate chip cookies to be exact, Annie's favourite." said Maddie as she smiled trying to lighten the mood but she instantly regretted it once she saw Adi cowering in fear just by seeing her smile. Her smile was not even malicious at all.
Maddie sighed internally, feeling really tired and fed up that she ended up doing the one thing she said to herself that she would never do, and that was to give people a reason to actually be scared of her and she had just done that with Adi.
"Coo...coo...cookies?" asked Adi in a mix of shock and fear as she looked down at the bowl of cookies in her hands.
"Yes cookies." said Maddie as she smiled as sweetly as she could, she could not take the poor girl looking terrified for her life like this.
"Why... why... why would you give me cookies... specifically?" asked Adi as her eyes darted the room, she was sure that she was damned now.
Maddie giving her cookies, that meant that she wanted to kill her, and what better way than to poison her with seemingly innocent cookies.
"Well because I wanted to thank you for what you told me this morning, and I also wanted to apologize for the way I acted, I shouldn't have threatened you like that, I did not mean to scare you at all. All I wanted was to know the truth." said Maddie as Adi did not seem to believe her at all.
"Look, just consider it a little thank you for telling me the truth. All I wanted was someone to be honest with me and you were, so thank you." said Maddie sincerely as Adi thought that she was a fool for almost being swayed by Maddie's words and sincere looks.
"I... I... see miss Maddie.... th... thank you..." she said still uncertain, it was at the front of her mind that as soon as she left this place she would be throwing away the cookies, there was no way that she would be that dumb to eat them.
"You're welcome, and it's not poisoned if that's what you're thinking." said Maddie as Adi's eyes shot wide open as she looked at Maddie who just chuckled.
"I... I... I didn't say that Miss Maddie." she said cursing herself for making it so obvious.
"You didn't have to, but you thought it, look it's fine, I don't blame you, I to wouldn't collect cookies from a stranger who just threatened me in the morning, but if it makes you feel any better, Annie made them herself, I just helped her make them." she said as she saw Adi visibly calm down with the mention of Annie's name.
"And apart from that, we've already tasted it, even your beloved blondie prince just left munching away happily on the deliciousness of these cookies." said Maddie as Adi visibly relaxed even more once Ollie was mentioned.
"And if you still have any doubts..." said Maddie as she took a step forward as Adi resisted the urge to move back.
"I didn't poison them." she added as she took off the lid and placed her other hand over her eyes and randomly took a cookie and ate it instantly.
"I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't sure that I hadn't poisoned them." she said as she placed the lid back on and chewed.
"But anyway, I won't force you to eat them if you don't want to. You can throw it away if you wish, all I want you to know is that I am sorry for scaring you and I really had no intention whatsoever to harm you. If I had harmed you, your blondie prince would definitely have had be locked up, so I'm smarter than that." chuckled Maddie as Adi didn't seem to find that funny at all.
"So, what I am trying to say is thank you, and enjoy those cookies.. or not." said Maddie with a smile.
"Can I go now?" asked Adi as Maddie was glad to notice that she had stopped stuttering.
"Of course you can, thank you for listening to me Adi, see you around." said Maddie as she smiled turned around and walked away without wasting a single moment at all.
Adi just stood there blinking long after Maddie had left. She did not know what to feel, or what to think, she was really so confused. One moment Maddie was threatening her seriously, and the next she was being sincerely sorry for what she had done.
Adi knew that she would be naive to believe Maddie so easily. Everyone in the castle had warned her about Maddie, they had told scary stories of the daughter of Azazel. From what they knew, she was the first and only child of Azazel until that changed, but regardless, it did not stop them from hating her.
Even though she looked more like her mother and she had her eyes instead of Azazel's eyes, they would never see her more than that, more than his just the daughter of an extremely wicked tyrant who could have caused the downfall of the entire realm and more.
And yet Adi did not know why she felt kind of warm inside from Maddie's gesture... Adi looked down at the bowl of cookies in her hand and to her surprise, she took off the lid and ate one cookie.
She had to admit it with really good and delicious and warm and soft and chewy. Adi smiled to herself as she turned around and took her leave.
...
"Hello, hello, look who's finally here to join us." said Annie as she smiled at Maddie who frowned and sat down on the grass.
"So how did apologizing go?" asked Matt as he was still eating a cookie.
"Terrible, Adi is terrified of me, and now I feel bad for actually giving them a reason to hate me and be scared of me." said Maddie as she groaned.
"Don't worry Maddie, Adi is really nice, I'm sure that she accepted your apology, so you shouldn't feel guilty." said Ollie as he smiled.
"That's easy for you to say blondie, it's not that simple. If you had a belief that someone or something was a monster and then that person or thing does something that backs your beliefs, you will never trust again, and that's exactly what I've done, so much for trying to make people like me." said Maddie sadly.
"You know what, just have a cookie, it solves everything." said Annie as she handed Maddie and cookie and she chuckled.
"Right, you're definitely right." said Maddie as she ate it.
"So what were you three talking about while I was gone?" asked Maddie in curiosity as she smiled.
"Nothing much, just how beautiful it is outside." said Annie as she smiled.
"Hmm, I don't believe you, but I also don't have the strength right now to argue to whatever." said Maddie as Matt chuckled.
"I think that I like drained out Maddie better." he said as Maddie glared at him.
"Well then, you better enjoy it while it lasts because I'll be back full energy soon." said Maddie.
"Thanks for the heads up, I certainly will enjoy." said Matt as he laughed and Maddie scoffed.