Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 105: Flashback: The beginning of the End

"All is fair in love and war," Nicholas said and added after a beat.

"The deities should know you can’t control who you fall in love with. Besides, loving someone is not a crime."

"Indeed, loving someone is not a crime, but how to go about it might bring about some damages that will take a lot of effort to repair."

"You said you were going to help me break the curse; that’s what’s important. Go ahead and break the curse," Nicholas said. He wanted to get it over with and get back to Luciana. He already missed her terribly.

"Ahem," the sorcerer coughed.

"It seems like you misunderstood me; I can’t break the curse. I don’t have the power to change what even the deities are in agreement with," he added.

Nicholas’ jaw clenched at his words.

"So are you telling me there’s nothing you can do to help me? If you are not powerful enough, show me who the most powerful sorcerer or magician is who can help me. I’ll go and find them to break the curse," he said.

"I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but no powerful sorcerer, magician, fairy, or pixie can help you break the curse," the sorcerer said.

"So why did you tell me you could help me if you cannot break the curse? Are you saying there’s no way to break the curse?" Nicholas asked, his voice filled with fury mixed with despair.

"No, I didn’t say that," the sorcerer said, and Nicholas looked at the man as if he wanted to cut him into pieces for beating about the bush.

"I can’t break the curse, but you can," the man hurriedly added after seeing the murderous look in Nicholas’ eyes.

"Me?"

"Yes. You and the empress. To break the curse, you and the empress must go into the dark forest and find the "lake of light and forgiveness." But you must know that the dark forest is full of evil spirits that feed on dark feelings. So you must get rid of any dark feelings you and the empress have before you enter the dark forest."

"To do this, all you need to do is to replace the darkness surrounding your union with light. You must search for the light you’ve lost and let it shine through."

"The light we’ve lost? How do we do that?" Nicholas asked.

"Like I previously said, the words of your brother had the power to manifest because of his malicious intent and the fact that he said those words during his last breath. Putting that aside, you and the empress have lost your light."

"The guilt, doubts, and suspicions surrounding your union made the light in your hearts go out, creating a darkness around you, and that darkness must be removed as soon as possible."

"You can begin by telling her the truth. Lies beget more lies, and it has created negative energy around your union with the empress. Making what was supposed to be a holy union become a union of darkness."

"The truth will set your relationship on a path to redemption. It would create a little light. That little light will eventually create a spark with the more sacrifices you are willing to make for each other—a genuine act of true love."

"The spark from the light would begin to spread, and the greater it would shine through and guide you on how to rid your union of the darkness."

"When there is no more darkness, it will not touch the purest evidence of your love—your offspring," the sorcerer said.

"Are you speaking in parables or what? Why am I getting confused the more you speak?" Nicholas said. The words, "I don’t think we can ever break this curse to begin with," seemed to be written on his face.

"No, your Highness, you need to search for that light that had been lost in your relationship. That light would guide you as you journey through the dark forest and find the stream of light and forgiveness."

"It is there that you will ask forgiveness from the departed soul you have wronged, take a dip in the stream of light and forgiveness, and the remaining darkness will be removed, and you can be free," the sorcerer said.

"But you must know, without telling the truth and creating a light that will create a spark, journeying through the dark forest to find the lake of light and forgiveness would be difficult, for there will be no light to guide you. If you tell the truth, you might be tested, and an act of true love can break the curse without you needing to go to the dark forest in the first place," the sorcerer concluded.

"So are you saying there’s nothing you can give me to cure my daughter? There’s nothing I can take home to prevent my daughter from dying?" Nicholas asked; he didn’t want to disappoint Luciana.

She was so full of hope when he left.

"I’m sorry, but I can’t cure her, but if you follow my advice and consciously seek to rid your union of its darkness. Your daughter would be saved. I have something here that I know you would need," the sorcerer said and pulled out a lamp.

"This is a soul-searching lamp; keep it with you anytime you sleep. It would be best if you slept with it with the empress present. If you don’t follow my advice and break the curse, any time both of you reincarnate, your souls will split, and you will be star-crossed lovers."

"But anytime a part of your split soul comes in contact with the lamp, it would remind them and teach them how to break the curse."

The sorcerer finished his speech and gave him the lamp.

~~~

Nick had been stuck in this dream for a long time that he had even forgotten about his life in Gloryland and his Luciana until he finally saw something that reminded him of his life in Gloryland.

He remembered this was the lamp Luciana had bought during the auction, and it had been by his bed for a while now. ’Could it be that it was because of the lamb that he was trapped in this dreamlike state?’ he thought.

"Yes. The lamp helped too," a voice said, breaking Nick from his reverie, and then he realized something. The Nicholas he had been watching all this while was staring directly at him.

"You, you can see me?" Nick asked.

"Of course, I could see you since you arrived. It wasn’t the right time to talk to you then, so I ignored you," he said.

"So why aren’t you ignoring me now?" Nick asked.

"Because you know enough to break the curse," Nicholas said.

"The curse? What curse are you talking about?" Nick asked.

"You have watched everything from the beginning, and you heard what the sorcerer said. You should know Luciana and I were cursed to be star-crossed lovers."

"I know that, but what has that got to do with me?" Nick asked.

"It has everything to do with you. I couldn’t break the curse, so anytime Luciana and I reincarnated, we became ill-fated lovers and hurt each other deeply, causing us to not have a happy ending. Now since you know everything, you can rectify everything," Nicholas said.

"You didn’t tell her the truth like the sorcerer said, did you?" Nick asked.

"I should have told her, but other things happened, and things went out of hand."

"Other things like what? If you stole your brother’s woman, the best you could do was not to make her suffer!"

"I know; I wish I could turn back the clock and do things differently," Nicholas said.

"What did you do to her? She’s so kind; she would have forgiven you if it wasn’t so bad," Nick said.

"I know...It was bad. When I returned from my journey, the ministers of the court had found Evelyn, and she was having my son. The night she slipped into my bed, she conceived, and they wanted me to marry her and name her son as the prince since I needed an heir," Nicholas began.

"I didn’t want to agree at first, but Evelyn’s child looked healthy, and then I realized there was a loophole in the curse; only children born by Luciana would die, but not with other women."

"So I allowed Evelyn to stay, and Luciana felt betrayed, but she bore with it, especially since our daughter died soon after. Due to Evelyn’s arrival with our son, I missed the right time to tell Luciana the truth. Luciana became even more distant, and my heart ached to see her like that." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"To make her pain stop, I did something worse. I went to bed with Evelyn, and with the imperial physician calculating her fertile days, she became pregnant just after the first try."

"I lied to Luciana and told her that I’ve sent Evelyn away, but I had kept her in a secluded pavilion and had made my men guard her so that she wouldn’t escape."

"When Luciana gave birth to our baby, I took her baby away and lied to her again. I told her the sorcerer can help us keep the baby alive, but the baby must stay away from her for six months."

"You know how Luciana loved her children, but for the child to not die, she agreed, but every single day, I could tell how she missed and pined for her baby. It was terrible."

"Six months later, I brought the baby back, but instead of our baby, the baby I brought her was my baby with Evelyn. I switched the children and gave Luciana’s baby to Evelyn to raise."