Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 29: I have forgiven you

"Watch me," she declared determinedly and continued to walk away.

If Nicholas hated anything, it was disobedience; it seemed he had to discipline her and teach her not to cross his limits.

He took two steps in the direction she had just disappeared when Adam came to stand before him.

"Your Highness, we must start preparations to meet the undercover guards tomorrow. It is about an hour to mid, and you must rest properly so that your strength won’t fail you. Please, can you not focus on the princess consort now? She clearly doesn’t cherish the attention you give her," Adam said.

"Do you bear any grudges against the princess consort?" Nicholas asked Adam with a narrowed gaze.

"She tried to kill you on the night of your wedding. I don’t like her. If the emperor finds out, she and her whole country would be charged with treason for daring to harm you, but you didn’t take any actions against her. Instead of her treasuring your kindness, she is still so stubborn; I think Your Highness should rather focus your attention on the other ladies. Lady Evelyn, for instance, is already carrying your future heir; you should..."

"Adam, the misunderstanding between Luciana and me is ours to resolve; you don’t have to meddle. This should be the last time I hear you talking about her in such a manner. In my absence, I expect you to protect her like you do me. Do you understand?" he asked, cutting him off.

"Yes, Your Highness," Adam stated, but in his heart, he was still not convinced; he even wanted to add what happened in the empress’ courtyard today to his list of ’why I don’t like the princess consort,’ but he refrained from it after seeing how displeased Prince Nicholas looked.

He knew it! The princess consort was a witch; it had just been a few days since she arrived, but she had completely turned Prince Nicholas against him. No problem; he would surely find ways to expose her real face soon and break whatever spell she had cast on the prince.

Nicholas had wanted to follow Luciana, but upon second thought, he stopped himself; seeing how she was so worried about her maid, she might resent him more if he was forceful with her. It would be best to allow her to vent. He turned in the direction of his courtyard.

Adam saw this and nearly shed tears of joy; it seemed the prince wasn’t a fool in love. There was still hope, he thought. If only he knew what the prince was going to do later, he would cry tears of blood.

Nicholas had no idea Adam was having an internal monologue about his love life; he would have given him a proper beating to straighten him out if he could hear the thoughts of Adam.

~~~

When Ruth heard Luciana’s thunderous roar as she called her name, her heart skipped a beat. ’Why was the princess consort back so soon? Shouldn’t she be locked in the dungeons or undergoing torture under the prince?’

"My, my lady, you—you called for me," she said, stuttering.

"On your knees!" Luciana ordered, and Ruth instinctively fell onto the ground, seeing the intimidating aura Luciana was exuding.

"Ruth, I’ll ask you a question: ever since you became a maid under me, have I ever treated you unfairly?" Luciana asked,

Ruth frantically shook her head. "No, my lady, you have not treated me unfairly," she said.

"Then why do you plot against me?" Luciana asked, and Ruth panicked. ’Has the princess consort found out something? No way, she must deny,’ Ruth thought.

"Your grace, I’ll never plot against you; if I have ever thought of plotting against you, may thunder strike me," Ruth said seriously.

Luciana laughed at her boldness; if it had been the previous her, she would have believed Ruth if she didn’t know just how far she could go. This maid had caused her to suffer in her past life, and she had been the one to set a trap for Dora and cause her to lose her life. If she hadn’t witnessed it herself, she wouldn’t know she was harboring a snake.

"Then tell me, where is Dora?" She asked.

"My lady, I have not seen her. She left the courtyard and didn’t tell me where she was going; I really have no idea where she is," Ruth said, even though her heart was thumping wildly in her chest.

"You don’t know where Dora is?" Luciana asked again, a chilling edge to her voice.

"No, my lady, Dora didn’t tell me where she was going," Ruth insisted.

"Then tell me why you told her the prince was going to kill me because of what happened in the empress’ courtyard."

Ruth’s eyes widened as she frantically shook her head.

"My lady, I didn’t tell her that; she is slandering me; I would never say something like that," Ruth said.

"Really? Tell me; I want to know why you would never say something like that," Luciana said, and Ruth stared at her tongue-tied; what kind of question was this? How was she going to answer? But seeing Luciana’s questioning gaze, she could only open her mouth.

"Because, because you are the princess consort and you are my mistress, I could never bite the hand that feeds me," Ruth said righteously.

What a smooth talker! Luciana felt like she had still underestimated Ruth’s capabilities in her heart. What a scheming woman!

"Guards, come and send this servant to the prince’s torture chambers to torture the truth out of her," Luciana called, and the guards at the princess consort’s manor all came forward.

When Ruth heard about the prince’s torture chambers, she nearly fainted. She might as well become a corpse if she ever sets foot into that torture chamber. No, she couldn’t die, not when she was soon going to become a free woman and leave this slave status behind.

"I confess, my lady, I confess, I was only scaring Dora; I didn’t know she would take it seriously; please forgive me; it would never happen again," she cried; she looked really remorseful, that you couldn’t help but be moved by her.

"Since you confessed, I have forgiven you," Luciana said.

Ruth looked at her in surprise and mocked her inwardly. Tsk, it had only taken a few words from her, and she had agreed to let her go. The princess consort was no match for her.

"Thank you, thank you, my lady," Ruth said.

"Your gratitude is seriously lacking; shouldn’t you kowtow a few times until I tell you to stop to show your appreciation?" Luciana asked; she felt like venting all the anger she was feeling, both past and present, on this unfaithful servant today.

Knowing she would soon be free, Ruth didn’t find what the princess consort asked to be too difficult. Wasn’t it just kowtowing a few times? 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Thank you, my lady. Thank you, my lady." Ruth repeated the sentence about 10 times, kowtowing each time she said it.

"Okay, that’s enough," Luciana said. Ruth was feeling resentment against the princess consort for making her kowtow ten times but tried to maintain a pleasant expression on her face. She was just waiting for the princess to dismiss her when she nearly fainted because of her next words.

"I have forgiven you for lying to Dora, but it’s only fair you also receive the same punishment as her," she said and turned to the guards who were still standing around.

"Drag this unfaithful servant to the disciplinary bureau and give her 30 lashes to straighten her out and make her pertinent."

"Good! You took care of everything perfectly," Nicholas’ voice sounded, and Luciana stiffened.

’Hadn’t he left? Had he seen everything? What was he going to think about her character now? Would he think she was too vicious?’