Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 144: I trust you
"Go ahead and talk to him, I’ll be out here waiting for you," Nicholas said, catching Luciana by surprise.
"Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?" She asked.
"I trust you."
These three words felt like a promise and an assurance and Luciana’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.
"Thank you," she said with such emotion that Nicholas’ heart trembled.
He didn’t think such a simple gesture like this would make her so touched.
At times, when you decide to wager your entire heart and soul on another person, it brings forth two distinct shades of confidence: the familiar, comforting assurance that springs from past experiences, and the exhilarating yet uncertain belief that ventures into uncharted territory—fear of the unknown.
The known confidence that you are going to win back everything you’ve put on the line is preferable but not effective.
The unknown confidence that you might lose everything you put on the line is not preferable but effective.
What Nicholas knew was that Luciana was naturally kind and would always put other people before him and even herself. She will, at times, not consider his feelings and would even go against his authority and rules time and time again only if she believed she was making the right decision.
This is what he knew about her and it was his "known confidence," and because he had come to understand that was how she was, he had decided to accept her as she was.
The "unknown confidence" was the fear that she might trample on the trust he had given her and hurt him again. But as human as he was, he instinctively wanted to cling to what made him happy and that was Luciana, so even though he knew there was a probability she might choose someone else over him again, he realized he was in too deep to extricate himself, thus he would rather cling to the known pain—the devil he knew.
"Wait for me, I’ll be quick," she said.
Luciana walked to the door and James who had just stepped out, greeted her respectfully,
"Good morning, Your Highness."
Luciana nodded, pushed the door open herself, and stepped in. The scent of herbs and medicine hit her nose as soon as the door opened.
David sat on the bed and turned to look at her as soon as he heard light footsteps approaching.
"I knew you’d come and see me," he said, a gentle smile on his face.
When David had heard that Luciana was coming to see him, he had thought his eldest brother would be coming along with her but she came alone.
She also looked healthy and even more beautiful than he had expected; he had thought his eldest brother would take away her freedom, keep her under strict watch, and even punish her for hiding things from him but he was slapped in the face.
This was the first time he had seen his brother compromise like this. ’Could it be that his brother had really fallen in love this time around?’
The Nicholas he knew was not capable of love; he was unfeeling and never cared about anyone else apart from his mother, but he could tell his brother treated Luciana differently; he even trusted her to be alone with him; this was such a huge discovery.
Luciana tried to keep her composure, seeing the purplish bruises on his face.
Some looked like they were healing and some were almost healed. She could already picture how bad it looked on the first day. She then realized one of his eyes was bandaged.
’Did something happen to his eye?’ Luciana wondered, feeling sorry for him.
She didn’t know if she should blame herself for what happened to him; after all, if she had set clear boundaries between them, things wouldn’t have gotten out of hand.
"How are you feeling now?" Luciana asked gently.
"I’m alive," he said, chuckling, hoping Luciana would smile at his dark humor, but she didn’t.
"Luciana, I..."
"Princess Consort," Luciana cut him off and added,
"Second Prince, please maintain proper decorum and address me properly, I’m your sister-in-law."
David watched her tongue-tied, not knowing what to say.
"Luciana, has it come to this? Did he threaten you?"
"I’ll not repeat myself, Second Prince. I just came here today to tell you that your actions keep causing conflicts between my husband and me, and I hope you’ll refrain from doing that again. I will not leave my husband; in fact, the thought never crossed my mind."
"Lu...Princess Consort, would you please come down? You know I did everything for your own interest. My brother might act like he loves you now because of all the advantages he might get from treating you as his favorite consort but have you ever thought about how he’ll react if he found out your real identity?"
"Thanks for your concern, but what happens between my husband and me is none of your concern, so from now onwards, please stay away from me. I turned a blind eye to your actions due to our past relationship, but this ends now," Luciana said.
"Do you know what you are saying? If you are so sure of his loyalty to you, why don’t you tell him the truth and see for yourself?" David asked. Luciana was about to tell him. Nicholas already knew her real identity, but he spoke again.
"Do you know why he massacred your family? It’s because..."
"Would you shut up?" Nicholas barged in through the door as soon as David said those words.
"Were you eavesdropping on us?" Luciana asked in disbelief.
’Didn’t he just say he trusted her?’
"I didn’t mean to...I just..."
"Enough, I already have my answer," Luciana cut him off.
Nicholas knew he said he’d wait for her and give her privacy, but he didn’t know what came over him; all the confidence he had began to dwindle when the thought of losing her crossed his mind.
He just couldn’t live without her, and he could only keep her by his side if he knew what her plans were. He yearned to know just how much she valued him, and may the gods help him because every single word she said made him very happy.
"I wish you a speedy recovery, take care," Luciana said to second Prince David and turned to walk out with Nicholas following after her. Nicholas silently followed her, not before glaring at David one last time.
