Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 138: Did you kill him?

That was why she didn’t want any "fake" Luciana to live happily with the dragon prince. That was why even if she hated the first Evelyn with all her heart, she kept the desperate woman around to do her bidding.

She was her perfect tool to help her split up the lovebirds.

~~~

Four days later,

Luciana woke up and groggily stretched her body as her body felt stiff all over but in the next moment, she felt her wrist caught in something strong and warm and froze.

She opened her eyes, squinting and trying to adjust her eyesight to the dim source of lightning in the room.

She turned on her side and found Nicholas lying beside her on the bed. He had dark circles around his eyes, and he looked tired; it was as if he hadn’t slept for days, but Luciana brushed it off, thinking he must have finally decided to get some sleep after staying up all the time.

He was holding her wrist in his sleep and Luciana smiled at him.

She took a look at the little space between the gaps of the swaying curtains at the window and realized it was daytime, almost around noon time.

’Has she just woken up after sleeping through the night?’ Luciana thought but she felt like she was forgetting something important.

Luciana carefully tried to pull her wrist out from Nicholas’ strong grip but it felt like her wrist was about to break. This was how he usually hugged her waist when they slept, causing her to feel his sturdy chest behind her as his heat radiated off his skin, burning her up. She could barely sleep knowing he was right behind her and would pounce on her anytime.

’Could it be that he didn’t hug her waist today because of the pregnancy?’ Luciana thought, smiling at how thoughtful he was. She was about to wake him up but stopped herself when everything began to come back to her.

’David! What happened to him? How long has she been unconscious? Is her baby okay?’ Luciana inwardly asked herself these questions.

’Luciana, Luciana, look at what you’ve caused by your lies,’ Luciana inwardly scolded herself and silently tried to get her wrist out of Nick’s strong grip again; luckily, she finally managed to pull it out this time around and she got off the bed.

She let out a sigh of relief when Nicholas didn’t wake up from her movements.

’Should she go and find David first and beg for his understanding? She would just beg him to not tell the emperor about Nick attacking him. Truthfully, she was disgruntled that he had sneaked into their room that morning and had seen her in such a state, maybe David deserved to be beaten to a pulp.’

Seeing as Nick was still sleeping here after it was almost noon, Luciana was sure David was still alive. She hoped Nick wouldn’t be angry that she went to speak to the second prince behind his back.

She promised that after pleading with the second prince to let sleeping dogs lie, she would tell him to not come close to her again. She would emphasize her identity as the Eldest Prince’s princess consort and forbid him to not come close to her again.

She approached the mirror to check her appearance and gasped when she saw her messy hair; she didn’t look presentable at all. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Luciana wanted to use this opportunity while Nicholas was asleep to find out what happened after the banquet. She wanted to know if the emperor had found out what happened to David.

She didn’t want Nicholas to be put in a tough spot because of her.

So Luviana didn’t even call in the maids and hurriedly fixed her hair herself. She also quickly got dressed, leaving Nicholas alone in the room.

Luciana walked through the hallways and realized how quiet everything seemed.

’Where is everybody?’ Luciana wondered.

Luckily she didn’t go too far when she heard footsteps approaching.

"My lady, you are finally awake," Dora and Esther said at the same time upon seeing her, looking relieved.

Luciana smiled seeing their enthusiastic eyes but placed a finger on her lips to hush them,

"Keep your voice down, his highness is sleeping," she whispered.

"I just slept in a little, and it is only noon, but you people look like you haven’t seen me in days. Do you miss me that much; I didn’t know both of you were so fond of me," Luciana teased.

"My lady, you have been unconscious for four days. The prince has been the one attending to you and not letting us see you. Indeed, I missed you terribly," Dora said and Esther also frantically nodded to show she agreed with Dora.

"I was also very worried about you, my lady," Esther said and Luciana’s eyes widened.

"I have been unconscious for four days?" She asked and the both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yes, my lady, four days now and the prince never left your side," Dora said, a gossipy smile on her face.

Luciana could imagine Nicholas watching her like a stone statue and not moving his eyes as he stared at her sleeping face, looking worried for days on end and fussing over her even while she was unconscious.

It was no wonder he was so deeply asleep that he didn’t even wake up from her movements.

Luciana stared at both of her maids and didn’t know where to begin asking them questions about the emperor and David.

"Erm, where is Ruth?" Luciana asked and Dora watched her in puzzlement before answering.

"Ruth is still in the Moonlight Palace, you told her to wait there and keep an eye on things over there. You only allowed the both of us to follow you to the prince’s estate."

"Right! I did tell her to do that," Luciana said, she had forgotten Ruth didn’t come with her.

Even though Ruth was Lady Evelyn’s person, she kept her by her side because she was the one most invested in palace gossip. Ruth was usually up to date on all the rumors in the palace.

’Ugh, forget it, she would just ask Dora and Esther. It’s been four days now; surely if something major happened, Dora and Esther would know.’

"Did something happen after the banquet?" She asked,

"Not much," Dora said shaking her head, and then as if she recalled something, she added,

"I nearly forgot, something important did happen."

"What happened?" Luciana asked, her interest piqued and her heart drumming in her chest.

"The empress dowager sent over some gifts to you for treating her cats. She was very worried when she found out you were unconscious, and so she sent all the imperial physicians to come and check on you," Dora reported, but that wasn’t what Luciana wanted to know.

"Is that all? Didn’t something important happen, again?" She asked, stressing the word "important."

"The physicians found out you were pregnant when they came to check on you. The fetus was in danger, but it didn’t take too long before they all worked together to stabilize the fetus, everything is fine now," Dora happily narrated.

"They found out I was pregnant?" Luciana asked, but Dora, who had missed the "lack of surprise" look on Luciana’s face, thought she was just finding out and happily answered.

"Congratulations, my lady, you are with child, and both His Highness and Her Majesty, the empress dowager are very doting towards you now. You should take care of yourself and be careful in the future for the sake of the royal baby."

Luciana hurriedly nodded and asked again,

"What about other people? Did something happen to anyone else? Did the emperor or the second prince..."

"Why don’t you come back here and rest? I’ll tell you what you want to know," Nicholas’s voice, full of sleepiness, said, and Luciana turned to stare at him in fright.

’Oh no, Nicholas was awake!’ Luciana thought, a shiver running down her spine at the stern look in his eyes.

Luciana slowly walked back towards the gloomy man who stood at the door watching her every movement. Her pace was as slow as a tortoise, but surely she was getting closer to him every step she took.

Luciana cried out in fear when he roughly grabbed her wrist pulling her to him.

"Nick, I..." The words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat when he yanked her body to his in a bone-crushing hug that was fierce and gentle at the same time, full of affection.

Her little frame was completely lost in his embrace as he continued to savor the feeling of having her back in his arms, awake and alive.

Luciana was scared of his reaction at first, but after seeing how he looked so terrified as if she was going to disappear if he let go, she slowly raised her hand and hugged him back.

She had never seen him act so afraid before which shouldn’t have been a surprise considering how much he was obsessed with her.

She hugged him tightly as if her life depended on it, for she could already tell the fear and guilt he must be feeling because of her unconsciousness.

"Luciana," he whispered.

Luciana’s heart sped up at how heavy his voice sounded, dreading what he was about to say next.